Asyli Intimi Abdere
by Darkest643
Summary: A man dressed in black is on the loose, targeting young witches with an obscure spell, and leaving their charred bodies behind. Harry is feeling unease, and leaves the Dursleys; he finds out about his heritage, but will it be enough to stop the man dressed in black? What is the man dressed in black's motive? And what is this man's connection with Harry?
1. Primus Trucis

**Chapter 1: Primus Trucis**

"_Stupefy_!" A jet of red light filled the room, striking one of the occupants of the room. The occupant collapsed, slumping to the ground with a light 'thump.'

The other occupant, a man dressed completely in black, from head to toe, left the room without a sound, his first objective completed. He closed the door behind him; the man walked down the hallway, lowering his wand arm, as he had no need of his wand for the rest of the night.

Opening the door to the last bedroom on the right side, he found exactly what he expected to find. A small girl lying on her bed, asleep, breathing softly. The man sighed. He hated what he was about to do, but it was necessary.

Quietly, as to not wake the sleeping child, he crept into the room, and put his hand on her shoulder gently. He whispered three words, and a brilliant blue light filled the bedroom of the little girl. When the light faded, the man saw the results of his work. The corpse of the girl was smoking, covered in burns, and her body stunk of sulfur.

"I'm sorry," whispered the man, hanging his head in shame as he walked out of the girl's bedroom. When he got into the hallway, he saw the door behind which lay the father of the girl, unconscious and helpless. With another muttered apology, he left the house, and disappeared into the blackness of the night.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Harry heard the news through the closed door of the living room, where his aunt and uncle were listening to the evening news. The announcer had told of the girl who had been found dead in her bedroom, with burns covering her body, yet without a trace of fire throughout the house. The girl was still in her pajamas, which had been untouched by burns, and under the covers, but the cause of death was still the same: burns.

A strange feeling came over Harry; he should know what had happened to the girl, but he couldn't remember. There seemed something almost magical about this, but not it a good sense. A chill ran down Harry's spine. There was something in his previous thought that should have triggered something, but it hadn't. Unless, magic really had something to do with this. Whatever it was, Harry didn't like the feeling of unease that lingered from his thoughts.

The father came on moments later, stating his distress, and testifying to a strange man who had dressed completely in black that had entered his living room, and he had held out some sort of stick that flashed with a bright jet of red light. Harry's ears perked up when he heard that, as he could remember something from his dreams where a flash of green light had filled the room he was in. Harry frowned, trying to remember what the context of his dream was, but found that he couldn't remember.

'Oh, well,' thought Harry as he stole back into the kitchen, where he was supposed to be cooking dinner for his aunt and uncle. 'I can think on this later, but I can't have Aunt Petunia noticing that I've been listening to their news program.'

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

"It isn't a good thing to leave just lying around. You may have just as well given it to me gift wrapped and with a note attached, saying, 'Here, use this!'" The man dressed in black told the woman who was currently tied up with charmed rope, wandless, and gagged.

"Your punishment will be this: you will have to chose between your niece, who will work just as well as any other girl, or giving me the list of the muggleborn witches between the ages of six and nine. It's a fair trade, really. And, as a bonus, if you give me the list of the muggleborns, I'll never bother you or your niece again. Oh, what's that? Right, you can't talk. I guess I'll fix that."

The man, who had been standing over the woman threateningly, removed her gag, and the woman spat in his face.

"Hmm, you shouldn't have done that. Oh well; it matters not. I'll still have what I need, no matter which option you choose."

"Auntie 'Melia?" a concerned voice came from the door, where a small girl with auburn hair stood in the doorway, the door cracked open just enough for her to peek in the room.

"Susan! N-mmp!" The man stuffed the gag back into the woman's mouth. The girl shrank back a bit, but the man smiled and gestured for her to come in. The woman who was tied up struggled against her bindings, trying to shout through her gag, but all that come out was a bit of muffled and disoriented sounds.

"What are you doing to Auntie?" asked Susan.

"Don't worry, Susan. Your will be just fine," assured the man. "I'll let her go in about three minutes, unharmed.

"At least, if you cooperate. If you don't, I can't guarantee your aunt's safety."

"You're a bad man. Auntie says not to trust bad men. And Auntie catches bad men." Susan stated bluntly.

"You're absolutely right. I am a bad man. But, if you help me, then your aunt won't be hurt, and she can come and catch me."

"I still don't trust you. You're a bad man, and I don't trust bad men. How do I know you are going to keep your word?"

"While it's good not to trust bad men, bad men have an honor code of their own. One of the primary rules is that promises to pretty little girls are always kept. And since you are a pretty little girl, and I promised you, it'll work out. Besides, if you don't help me, then your aunt won't be able to after me and catch me."

There was a slight pause as Susan pondered his words. "All right," agreed Susan, "I'll help. But only because you will keep your promise not to hurt Auntie."

"Ok. Susan, I need you to take this knife, go up to the wall, prick your finger on the knife, and put your hand on the wall."

Susan approached the man carefully, still not trusting him completely. She took the knife and pricked her finger on the knife, opening the wall safe for Susan to enter.

"Susan, go into the safe and remove a stack of documents. They should be held together by a gold band wrapped around the middle. They should be on top of the second dresser on the left." The woman's eyes opened wide in shock. Those were top secret documents from her time at the Department of Mysteries. She didn't know how the man in black knew of them, but she couldn't let him get his hands on them. She struggled again, this time knocking over the chair, and she tried to trip the man in black with her chair, but the man pulled out his wand and immobilized her chair, stopping her efforts.

Susan came back from the vault with the stack of documents, and the man in black smiled genuinely at Susan as she handed them to him. "Thank you, Susan. You've been a great help to me. Now, I've got one more task for you to do. I need you to drink this sleeping potion. I swear that there is no poison or otherwise harmful agents in the potion."

"Fine," said Susan. She took the offered bottle of potion and drank it in one gulp. She lay down on the floor drowsily, curled up, and fell asleep. The man in black smiled, but this time it wasn't kind. Again, he removed the gag from the woman's mouth, and sat down next to Susan, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"This is your last chance, Amelia. If you don't give me the list of muggleborns, then I will involve Susan."

"What are you going to do to Susan?" asked Amelia, still struggling against her bindings.

"That depends on your choice. Will you give up the list? Or will you let Susan take the place of the muggleborns. Either is fine, but if you give me the list of the muggleborns, Susan will wake up after the sleeping potion wears off. However, if you don't, then..."

"Then, what?" asked Amelia, scared by this man's deal.

"I'm not going to tell you. That would ruin the fun. Now, you have ten seconds. Choose."

The man in black counted down from ten, and reached zero. "Well? What's it going to be?"

"I won't give you the list of muggleborns." Amelia tried to give her answer with confidence, but the shakiness in her voice was evident, and she was slightly trembling as she delivered it.

"So, even though your niece went through all that effort to save you, you won't help her back. But I suppose I can respect your choice. It was either Susan, the little girl you knew and loved, or the list of about 180 muggleborns that is currently in my possession."

Amelia paled, and dread crept into her eyes. "Really, you could have saved Susan, but you chose to condemn her to the same fate as the rest of them."

"No! Wait! I can give it to you! It's in my office desk, third drawer down, left side, fourteenth folder!"

"Well, as you have been so helpful to me, you still chose to give me Susan, not the list. Thanks for volunteering the information. You didn't think I really had it, did you? It'll make things so much easier. However, in order to fulfill my promise to Susan, I'll have to let you go."

He cast an _Incendio_ on the ropes binding her to the chair. "That should release you in about a minute. Now, you'll be the first to witness exactly what will happen to all the muggleborn girls that you gave me access to."

The man in black leaned forward, his hand still on Susan's shoulder, and whispered three words into her ear. The same brilliant blue light filled the room, and when Amelia's eyes opened, she saw Susan's smoking body on the floor. Tears filled her eyes as she saw the last of the Bones lying on the floor, dead.

The man in black stood. Pointing his wand at Amelia he whispered one more spell. Tipping his hat to Amelia, he left the room, vamoosing away from the Ossuary, the Bones' family manor, and flooing to Amelia's office, where he could find the list of the muggleborns, leaving a distraught Amelia Bones weeping over the burnt corpse of her niece.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Cornelius Fudge was completely unprepared to deal with the hysterical DMLE head in his office. His day had been a good one; the Wizengamot meeting earlier had been productive, giving him a bit more leeway in his position. Therefore, when Amelia Bones had flooed into his office demanding an arrest warrant for an unknown man, he didn't know what else to do, so he agreed, letting Amelia take care of that. Instead, he was now preparing a speech to warn the citizens of the impending danger of the man dressed in black.

Amelia had insisted that the news get out immediately, because she didn't want any more incidents similar to hers to happen, and Fudge agreed with her. With the Bones line practically gone, the death of the Bones heiress would send the purebloods into a panic.

While Cornelius didn't like the purebloods panicking, he also didn't like the citizens panicking, and out of the two, he would prefer to deal with the purebloods. Even though they were a slippery bunch that tried to expand their influence over the wizarding world through trickery, they were the ruling class, and it didn't take much to calm them down, even if it took a little pampering to get them there.

So, Cornelius decided, he would give the speech, warn the average Joe, and maybe give himself a little publicity for getting on top of things. That would be best.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

The man dressed in black was currently pondering his latest encounter with Amelia Bones. He wished it hadn't been necessary to act the way he had, not caring whatsoever for the girls he was using. Even if the girls hated him for it, even if the entire wizarding world hated him for it, he knew that offered the choice, he would still have taken the route he had chosen. He didn't try to justify what he was doing; it was reprehensible, but it had to be done.

Leaning back in his chair, he thought over all of the girls that he had taken so far. Out of all the girls he had taken so far, the one that haunted him the most was the first girl. He couldn't remember her name; only that her parents had been dentists.

"_My name is Hermione!_" The thought rang through his head. It hadn't been thought by the man dressed in black. No, the thought had come from the very girl herself. "_And stop angsting over what you've already done. Just move on, and keep going! You need to be at the top of your game if you want to continue. Also, I've already forgiven you for what you've done, so stop thinking about it."_

"_You don't understand!" _replied the man. _"You'll never be able to go back to your bodies again. I've basically stolen your soul from your body. After about two more weeks, your consciousness will be all that's left, because your soul will begin to meld with mine, expanding my magical core, and once that happens-"_

"_Stop!" _commanded Hermione. _"Just stop. What's done is done. Now, stick to your plan. You'll need it if you want to overthrow the ministry."_

"_Fine!" _retorted the man dressed in black. _"I'll stop 'angsting' over what I've done. Now, can you please be quiet? I need to concentrate."_

"_Concentrate on what?"_

"_Figuring out who to go after next."_

"_Hmm, I don't know. I'd say to ask Susan, but she hasn't woken up yet. Anyways, what is in that pile of documents that you picked up from the Bones's. You haven't taken it out yet, and I want to know what's in it."_

"_It's got some very important things."_

"_Sure, like that helps narrow it down."_

"_It does. Now you know that it's not going to talk about the proper way to eat your boogers."_

"_Oh, you! Stop that! Fine, it doesn't have anything to do with eating boogers. Any other hints?"_

"_Uh, sure. The only thing that I can think up off the top of my head is that it had to do with excess tachyon particles that forensics believe will conflagrate the adjoining solar parsec into a supernovic paroxysm that would engulf the entirety of the Yardrat system."_

"_You made that up."_

"_How'd you guess?"_

"_A paroxysm is an outburst of emotion, not an actual explosion. Basically, you said that there were too many ftl particles that criminal scientists would burn up the nearest 3.262 light years in a fit of emotion so big that it would destroy the Yardrat planet."_

"_That makes absolutely no sense."_

"_Says the guy who said the actual thing!"_

"_I was paraphrasing!"_

"_Paraphrasing what?"_

"_Uh, I don't recall."_

"_Whatever. I'm going to go get some sleep."_

"_Goodnight." _The man in black put his face in his hands in near exhaustion. How was a seven-year-old girl that smart? I mean, how many people actually knew what a paroxysm was? He certainly hadn't. It had been a long night, and the man dressed in black was also ready to hit the sack. He trudged down the small hallway from his porch to his bedroom and lay down. He'd be back to work in the evening.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Harry Potter was back in his closet. His aunt hadn't believed him when he had said that he hadn't broken the dining platter. No, Dudley had done that, but Aunt Petunia never believed him when he blamed Dudley; it made the punishment worse. He'd give her the most believable excuses, and she'd turn them aside, and locked him up in his cupboard, or gave him more chores.

Well, Harry was fed up with all of his so-called 'relatives.' He was running away; he no longer belonged here. Maybe he'd find work someplace, or someone could take him in, and he could do all of their chores. That'd work.

He packed up all of his belongings, put them in his backpack, and walked out the door.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

The alarm bell was ringing. Whirring and spinning, popping and tooting, it was ringing. Unfortunately, no one was around to hear it, so the alarm kept on twirling and turning, until someone could attend to it.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Susan blinked open her eyes. The last thing she had remembered was the man asking her to take the potion, and she had laid down on the floor, because she had been really tired, and then she had fallen asleep, right?

"_Hello!"_ A bright voice snapped Susan out of her semiwakefulness into alertness.

"_Hello,"_ responded Susan. She paused. The way she had talked had sounded very different. Not like she usually did; it sounded more like she was talking inside her head, except, this wasn't inside her head, was it?

"_You must be wondering what's going on. I was confused when I first woke up, too."_ Susan now a better awareness of her surroundings, and she found herself to be lying in a fanciful bed with elegant covers and intricate carved headboard. Sitting on the bed was a girl with brown bushy hair, large front teeth, and a brilliant smile. The bed was inside a large bedroom with a wardrobe, changing screen, fireplace, and a balcony that overlooked a placid lakeside town. The sun was flitting in through the drawn curtains and the balcony.

"_Where am I?" _asked Susan.

The girl crinkled her face in thought. _"You know, I never really thought about it that much before. I mean, I know where we are, and why we are here, but not, how shall I say it, why we are here, do you catch my drift?"_

"_Not really," _replied Susan. _"So, in answer to my first question?"_

"_Oh!" _The girl gave a little start. _"Sorry, forgot. We are in, oh, I can't say it right. I'll just let Mib tell you?"_

"_Who?"_

"_Oh, right, you haven't met him yet. He's the one who created this place."_

"_Created? Not built? Or constructed?" _asked Susan.

"_Yup, created. I'm not sure how big it is, but it's really impressive. I think I'll have to go exploring for a bit later today."_

"_How long have you been here? You don't sound like you've been here very long."_ Susan observed.

"_You're right. I've only been here three days, but it's been really fun! I've learned so much from Mib and the library here. I should warn you, once you start to read some of the books there, you can't stop. It's a good thing Mib keeps an eye on me."_

"_Yeah?"_

"_Yesterday he reminded me that I still had to eat lunch. It was kind of embarrassing. Oh, do you know about magic?"_

"_Magic? Of course I know about magic. What, did you not know about magic?"_ asked Susan, a little confused.

"_I didn't,"_ said the girl hotly. _"What, did you expect everyone to know about magic?"_

"_Sorry," _apologized Susan, _"I didn't know you were a muggleborn. What's your name, anyway?"_

"_My name is Hermione Granger," _said Hermione.

"_Susan Bones, pleasure to meet you."_

"_Charmed." _There was a short pause, while Hermione was trying to arrange another sentence.

"_Hermione, is Susan awake yet?"_ It was a disembodied voice, coming from everywhere, and yet, nowhere. Also, it was a voice that Susan recognized. She had heard that voice, seemingly moments earlier. It was the voice of the man dressed in black. Susan started a little, but composed herself.

"_Yeah, she just woke up a few minutes ago. I haven't really told her anything other than my name. I left the explaining up to you."_

"_Suuure, leave the tough stuff to meee." _The man dressed in black's voice drawled; Hermione rolled her eyes.

"_I wasn't sure how to say it, and I thought you would do a better job of explaining it than I would."_ Hermione retorted.

"_Fine! I'll explain it." _Susan felt the man dressed in black's attention turn to her, and she made a small _"Eeeep!"_

The man dressed in black sighed. _"There's no need to be frightened. Your aunt is fine. Maybe a little smoke inhalation, but nothing a little time won't fix." _Susan breathed a sigh of relief. Auntie 'Meila was safe.

"_Now, as to where you are, the simple answer is that you are inhabiting a part of my soul."_ He paused, letting that sink in.

"_Wait, what?"_ Susan was very confused. She was inhabiting a part of his soul? Then how was she keeping her integrity, and how did she even get here?

"_That's somewhat misleading, but essentially correct. I used an ancient spell to separate your soul from your body, and attach it to mine. Your mind, the link between your soul and your body, followed, as you were no longer inside of your body."_

"_So I'm a part of your soul now?" _asked Susan.

"_Yes and no. You are technically still a separate entity, but you are connected to my soul similarly to a soul bond. It's not the same, as your soul will eventually coalesce with mine, but if I die, you will too."_

"_So that's why I feel like I'm talking inside my head," _Susan commented.

"_Yes. Also, you will be able to view my memories and experiences like a pensieve, and even watch what I'm doing right now. Any book that I've read will be stored in the 'local' library, and you can visit whenever you want."_

"_About that," _interjected Susan,_ "What exactly is this place?"_

"_That's a very easy and at the same time tough question to answer. Basically, you are in my soul, and I've built a physical representation of it, and that's what you're living in right now. I've tried to make it as comfortable as I can, but if you need anything, just let me know. Call for 'Mib.'"_

"_I have one more question. Will I ever be able to go back to my body?"_

"_No."_ The man dressed in black's words were spoken gently, but the harsh truth behind them struck Susan in the gut, ripping it out, and replacing it with burning coals. Tears began to fall down her cheeks, and Hermione put a hand on her shoulder comfortingly. The man dressed in black continued, _"I made a choice, and these were the consequences."_

"_What choice could have made you do this?"_ Susan asked tearfully.

"_The choice between a bad one and a horrid one."_

* * *

A/N: This idea just popped in my head, and I started writing. Don't know when I'll update this, but it might take a week or two. Reviews would be appreciated. Thanks for reading.


	2. Oculus Destitutus Viridis

**Chapter 2: Oculus Destitutus Viridis**

Harry was almost regretting walking out on the Dursleys. Almost. The constant attitude and punishment was not worth going back too. Besides, even if he did go back, he'd be put in his cupboard for a month, no questions asked. Though, eating out of trashcans wasn't healthy, and most of the food didn't taste good at all. The smell was getting to him as well; he needed to find someplace else to go.

He wished that he could go somewhere, anywhere, as long as it was away from here. As he sat on the cold concrete ground, wishing he could go away, he felt a strange pulling, from somewhere deep inside of him, and suddenly, he had moved.

Harry blinked. This wasn't the backstreet alley he had been sitting in a moment ago. Instead, he found himself on a deserted beach, waves gently lapping at his feet, water stretching out for miles, and a flat plain behind him. The only other sign of life was a bird hopping around the beach, pecking at the ground in irregular intervals.

He looked at his hands in wonder. Was this a dream? Or had he actually done this? If he had, then he could literally teleport, like some of the characters from Dudley's cartoons. He tried again, this time, instead of just wishing to go away, he wished to move a meter to the right. He felt that same strange pull, deep inside him, and he heard a small, 'Pop!' He opened his eyes again, and he found himself to be just where he had wished. He had teleported! Now, if only he had some food...

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Susan had a hard time adjusting to the notion that she was, in one sense, dead. In fact, everyone except three people believed that she was dead, and she was one of the three. Sighing, she stuck a bookmark in to mark her page, and set her book down on the armrest. While she enjoyed reading, she wasn't ready to read all day long, or even read some of the books that Hermione was reading. Hermione was a book-eating monster of some sort; she just devoured them. Susan had asked Mib for some toys, and he had obliged by pointing out an entire playroom in their mansion. And while the toys there were fun to play with, it wasn't as fun without a playmate.

Susan closed her eyes and sighed again. She was bored, and even with lots of things to do, what she wanted most was to talk with Auntie 'Melia again. She knew in her head that she wouldn't ever be able to do that, but in her heart, she still felt like she could just go up to Auntie's office and knock on the door, or call her on the floo, or- a lot of different things. But she couldn't. She was stuck here for the rest of her life.

Tears began to well up again, but Susan wiped them away defiantly. She may be stuck here, but Auntie wouldn't want her to sulk and cry all day. And she'd already had her dose of crying; it was time to move on. She looked at the book lying on the armrest. Well, it was a start, even if she had a long way to go.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Harry was enjoying himself. For the first time he could remember, he was actually enjoying himself. He had food, which he could not only get from the grocery store nearby, but he was starting a vegetable garden, where he could grow food for later. He had built a boat, too, out of some driftwood that he had 'magicked' together. He really didn't know what else to call it, other than magic. There was nothing like it; he could do anything!

Well, not anything, but a lot of things. He had discovered that he couldn't create food out of thin air, but there were a lot of other things that he could do. He'd even tried to fly, but that hadn't worked out so well. He'd broken an arm, and it was bleeding severely, but he had tried to heal it with magic, and it had worked. Not immediately, but it hadn't taken long for the wound to completely disappear.

The only thing he was really missing was company. The grocer was nice, but he couldn't talk to him about his discoveries. What Harry wanted was a friend. He'd never had one, but his imagination was filling in the details. He wanted a friend that would listen to him and play with him, and a friend that would share secrets with, and a friend that would most of all, be there for him. While Harry realized that his imaginary friend was highly idealized, that didn't stop him from wishing.

Harry looked around his house, looking for things that he needed. His house was literally a sand castle built on the beach. He had constructed it with magic, and it was held together with magic, but he still really liked it. There was something majestic about living a castle built you built yourself, even if it was made of sand. Harry had also water and wind proofed it, making sure that it didn't blow away in the wind or dissolve if it rained.

There wasn't much furniture; Harry was still getting the hang of that. It took a lot out of him to turn sand into something different, and water was harder to transform, but transforming air into something tired Harry out like crazy, especially if he tried to make something out of metal. He hadn't dared try to transform something into gold; something about that made it seem dangerous at best.

Smiling, Harry left his sand castle and surveyed the beach. So far, no one had come to the beach, even though there was a house overlooking the beach on the cliff-face near the beach. Harry had seen some lights on during the night, but he hadn't seen anyone come out during the day. Harry just assumed that the person who lived there left before Harry awoke and came back late at night.

Still, Harry was curious, and he had wanted to go and explore his new surroundings. He'd been teaching himself how to swim; the Dursleys hadn't thought to teach him, so he had to figure it out himself. Luckily, swimming came easily to him, and after one big scare, learned that he could teleport back to land. Unfortunately, his glasses had been lost, so he was having to make due without.

An idea suddenly struck him. He could use magic to see! He concentrated for a moment, and pulled on what he now knew to be his magic, drawing it out of the depths of his being, and channeling them toward his eyes. Carefully, he poured his magic into his eyes, and the faint blurriness surrounding his vision vanished, clarity replacing it. Even though Harry could now clearly see his surroundings, he went a bit further, filling his eyes to the brim with magic.

Instantly, Harry became aware of so much more. It was as if the floodgates had been opened, and information flooded his brain. He not only saw light, but he was seeing magic! He stole a glance at his sand castle, and saw all of the different magic he was using to hold it together. Frowning, he noticed a small hole in the magic surrounding his castle. The windows he had put in were glaring in their unprotectedness. Harry quickly remedied this, pulling up more magic from his being and glazing the window with his magic, preventing the elements from destroying his castle.

Another thing he noted was the different colors of magic. His magic was mostly green, but some of the magic imbibed into his castle was yellow. He very quickly deduced that it was some of the places he had worked on first, and guessed that as his magic got older, it would mellow from vibrant green into mustard yellow. Shrugging, he casually looked around the beach. Out of the corner of his eye, something caught his attention.

It was from the house overlooking the beach; Harry squinted, trying to make out what was in there. There was a presence exuding from the house, colored a silver-purple, but there were two faint, no, three faint colors attached to it, one a bright blue, the second a dull pink, and the third a royal red. Harry wasn't sure of the significance of the other colors, but this required investigation.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Hermione was ambling toward the viewing room, lost in thought. Mib had taken another girl last night. Her name was Ophelia Jameson, but that was all that Hermione knew. Right now, she was still sleeping, but Hermione would visit again later. It was still early in the morning, so far as Hermione could tell. The soul world was vague in its definitions of day and night.

Mib was asleep right now, but Hermione wanted to watch the memory of Mib taking Ophelia. She had been asleep when Mib had been out that night, but she still wanted to know what had happened.

Turning the corner, she found the door to the viewing room. Opening it, she took a seat in the center of the room, and made herself comfortable. When she was ready, the remote presented itself, and she tuned it to the previous night, when Mib had been out.

The memory started with Mib looking down the list of muggleborns. He had to find one with magic suitable to himself; the spell wouldn't work otherwise. Narrowing in on Ophelia, he evaluated her file. Her aura was undefined, but Mib suspected it to be a pink of some sort. He noted her address, and stood up to leave his den. He had five rooms in his house: a bedroom, a kitchen, a bathroom, a utility room, and his den.

Apparating away from his house, he walked up to the house in question slowly, not revealing his intentions to the casual observer. Of course, Hermione wasn't the casual observer, and she already knew what he was going to do. It still scared her, but she could deal with it. Mib knocked on the door, and waited for someone to answer. A rotund woman with an apron opened the door, and Hermione noticed that her apron had flour dust coating the front.

Mib gave an excuse to why he was there, and the woman let him in. Mib took off his hat, but Hermione didn't look at his face. She didn't know what it looked like, and she didn't want to see. Mib was probably using a glamour charm anyway. The woman led Mib up the stairs and to a door on the right side of the hallway. She whispered something to Mib, and he nodded slowly.

The woman left him outside the door, and Hermione watched Mib steel his nerves for the upcoming spell. He hated the spell; Hermione didn't know why exactly, but she had her suspicions. Opening the door with a slight creak, Mib slipped into Ophelia's bedroom. He knelt beside her bed, and apologized for what he was about to do. He spoke three words, and blue light filled the room. It wasn't much different than what had happened to Susan.

Hermione was scared to watch Mib's memory of when he had taken her away. While she knew that she was fine, she didn't want to see her burnt body lying there on her bed, unmoving. She'd grown disillusioned to the fact that she was technically dead, and she didn't want to refute that.

Sighing, she ended the memory, and stood up, letting the blanket she had draped around herself fall to the ground. The blanket was red with gold hints, and reminded her of her bedroom back at home. No, it wasn't home anymore. She couldn't ever return to there. Watching that memory opened her eyes; she couldn't go home. Sure, the books had been great, but she couldn't ever talk to Mum or Dad again.

Crouching on the ground, she picked up the blanket she had just discarded. She held it close to her chest, letting its warmth flow through her. She vaguely noticed the magic she was pouring into the blanket, but she was more focused on the tears falling down her cheeks. Hermione started to sob, and brought the blanket to her eyes, and wept.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Harry was waiting on the porch. He'd knocked about a minute ago, but the man inside hadn't moved yet. There was something a little odd about the man; his aura was multicolored, but not in the usual sense. Instead of the colors being integrated into each other, the three extra colors were attached to the main silver-purple one. The red one had the strongest attachment, with the red having delved slightly more into the purple than the blue or pink. It was very weird, but Harry would be asking the man about that.

Finally, the man got up and moved toward the door. When he opened the door, Harry got his first look at the man with a four-colored soul. He was dressed completely in black, which set off Harry's alarm bells, but Harry waived them off; he needed to investigate.

The man's eyebrow's raised when he saw Harry, and rose even more when he looked at his forehead, where his scar was. "Yes? How may I help you?"

Harry decided to be blunt. "Yes, well, I was wondering why your soul has four colors."

The man blanched. "You were wondering why my soul has four colors?"

Harry nodded. "Yes."

"I have no idea, kid, now go away." The man moved to close the door, but Harry stuck his foot between the door and the frame.

"Yes, you do. You also recognized me, and there's a specific reason why your soul has four colors. I've looked at other people, and while some people have more than one color, they're not like yours. Theirs is completely mixed, while your other colors are merely attached. Why is that?" The man opened up the door again, and motioned for Harry to come in. He led Harry down a short hall and into what appeared to be a den.

"It's a long story, Harry. I'm not sure I want to tell you, but the look on your face tells me that you won't leave me alone. So I'll tell you on one condition: that you never tell anyone why I have four colors in my soul. Also, I wouldn't mind hearing how you know how I have four colors in my soul."

"Fine. The reason I know you have four colors in your soul is because I can see them."

"See them?" the man prompted.

"Yes. I just put some of my magic into my eyes, and I found that I could see magic."

"Huh. I never thought about doing that. That seems like it would be dangerous."

"I would have no idea," admitted Harry.

"Well, the simple way to say why I have a four-colored soul is this: I took them from other people."

"You took other people's souls? And added it to your own?" Harry was horrified.

"Not exactly. Their consciousness still exists, but only inside my soul, and only I can hear them."

"But, it's still another person's soul! You shouldn't be allowed to do that!" exclaimed Harry.

"You're right, Harry. And I took their souls without their consent. I used a spell that only works when the person is asleep."

"Who did you take?" asked Harry.

"Straight to the point. I like your attitude, Harry. Anyway, all of the people I took were girls between the ages of six and nine."

"Why would you do such a thing?" asked Harry, who was about ready to leave.

"Because I had no other choice."

"That's a cowardly way of thinking."

The man dressed in black began to laugh. "Wow, I never thought I'd be told off by a seven-year-old. But that's not the point. I had to make a decision between something bad and something worse, and this was the something bad."

"What was the something worse?" asked Harry quietly.

"The destruction of the entire island of Britain." Harry went silent for a bit after that.

"How do you know me?" asked Harry.

"You, Harry, are heralded as the savior of the world. Why? I'm not entirely sure myself, but when you were one, a dark wizard named Voldemort attacked your home, killed your parents, and tried to kill you, using an unsurvivable curse. You, against all odds, survived. So, the backlash from the spell failing destroyed the dark wizard known as Voldemort, and you earned the moniker, 'the Boy-Who-Lived.'"

"So, why didn't anyone recognize me at my relatives?"

"Probably because they didn't know about magic. You see, magic is considered a state secret, and there is a law stating that you can't use magic in front of someone who can't use magic, who are called muggles."

"You've given me some stuff to think about. But I do have one more question. What are the names of the three girls whose souls you have taken?"

"Their names are Hermione Granger, Susan Bones, and Ophelia Jameson."

Harry stood up and began to walk out of the room. He said one more thing before leaving. "Hermione was on the news. I remember her father coming on, and talking about how wonderful she was. You've destroyed that, haven't you?"

The man in black said nothing. Harry left, walking back down the trail that would lead him to his castle.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Susan opened the door to Ophelia's room. She hadn't visited yet, but she was remedying that now. The room was painted a dull pinkish color. It reminded Susan of the parlor at the Ossuary. Starlight was twinkling through the window; there wasn't a moon tonight. Sitting by the window was Ophelia, dressed in a blue nightgown, staring at the stars.

"These aren't the same stars," she commented to Susan. She must have heard her enter; she hadn't acknowledged her entrance.

"I didn't know that," replied Susan.

"You can find out a lot of interesting things by looking at the stars." Susan didn't reply. Ophelia seemed a little odd.

"Ooo! I see a lamb! I wonder what other constellations are up there. That is funny, though. I haven't seen any star formations like this." She turned to look at Susan for the first time. "Why is that?"

"Um," said Susan smartly. "Because we're in someone else's soul right now. So the stars are different."

"Oh," said Ophelia disappointedly. "I thought it was because I had been abducted and taken to another planet."

"Same difference, really. We can't leave here." Ophelia thought on that for a moment.

"Well, I guess I won't be able to tell Mother goodbye. Oh, well. Maybe she'll assume that I've flown into the stars."

"I don't think she will," said Susan weakly.

"Why not? It's a perfectly reasonable explanation."

"Because your soul was separated from your body; and while you might be in here, your body is still back at your home," Susan explained.

"Oh. Is there a moon here?"

"Yes, but we can't see it tonight."

"Good. Though I do wish there could be two moons."

"That could be arranged." Ophelia looked around for a moment. Susan hadn't been the one who had spoken.

"Why can that be arranged?" she asked.

"Because it's my soul, and I can make it however I wish. So, I'll make another moon." True to his word, a second moon, bigger than the first, but glossier, appeared in the sky.

"Can we visit the moon?" asked Ophelia excitedly.

"I don't see why not. You only have to get there yourself." Ophelia clapped her hands together.

"Wonderful! We'll go tomorrow! Now, I suppose I need my rest. I'll see you in the morning!" Susan took that as her cue to leave, and closed the door behind her. She made her way to her bedroom, and undressed. Slipping on a nightgown, she crawled under the covers. Before she fell asleep, she thought she smelled Auntie's perfume in the room. Susan looked up hopefully, but all she saw was the dresser, where a bottle of perfume lay on its side, broken.

Sinking back into the covers, Susan began to cry. The newness of this place had worn off. She missed Auntie 'Melia, and she wanted to go back home.

* * *

**A/N: Huh. Got this out earlier than I expected. Whatever. Enjoy!**


	3. Fragmentus Animae

**Chapter 3: Fragmentus Animae**

Harry was sitting crossed legged on the beach, meditating. More specifically, he was getting in tune with his magic. There was something a little off about the man dressed in black, but Harry couldn't figure out what it was. Something about his magic seemed to connect with a part of Harry. That was weird in and of itself, but the man's soul was also weird.

Harry hadn't noticed it yesterday, but the silver color ingraining the purple wasn't right. It was similar to the other two colored person he'd seen, but it was slightly different. He'd been more focused on the three colors attached to it, not the original soul itself. If it was that. Harry would need to evaluate the soul again, and to do that he would need to visit the man again.

But that wasn't what he needed to do now; he was meditating. Then it clicked. Harry was now examining his own soul, and what he saw, horrified him.

His soul was the same color of his magic, brilliant green, and in the shape of sphere, with currents of magic swirling about the surface. Surrounding the green sphere was another layer of green, stinted with ruby here and there, which seemed very unusual. But what surprised him the most was the silver-black fragment attached to his soul. The outer layer of green and ruby was shielding his inner sphere of green, but it was weakening; the soul fragment, for that's what Harry realized it was, was weakening it, trying to take over his soul.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Ophelia was fidgeting excitedly, waiting for Mib to return. When she'd talked him into making a spaceship, ready to launch to the moon, she'd been bouncing off the walls. Now, she'd calmed down a bit, but she was still impatient. Hermione had been talked into manning the ground station, while Susan and Ophelia were going to make the journey to the second moon, the one Mib had created the previous night.

_"Ground to Jacob's Ladder. Come in, come in."_

_"Jacob's Ladder to Ground. All systems normal. Ready for takeoff."_ Ophelia and Susan were currently strapped onto their seats in the cockpit of the landing module. Ophelia had turned on the radio when Hermione had called, responding to protocol.

_"Roger, starting standard takeoff procedure. Initializing engines, stabilizing fuel output. Launching in ten, nine, eight-"_ Hermione began the countdown, pulling several levers and turning the key, making it ready for launch.

_"Isn't this fun?" _whispered Ophelia to Susan.

_"I've never been more scared in my life," _Susan replied, holding onto the edge of her seat, shaking slightly.

_"-four, three-"_ Hermione lifted the cover to the launch button, and covered it with her small fingers.

_"Well, here goes nothing!"_

_"-one, zero. Blastoff!"_ Hermione pushed down on the button, starting the charge in the engine, igniting the fuel, and exhaust started to billow from the bottom of the rocket.

The rocket slowly lifted off the ground, while Hermione giggled in glee. Susan clutched onto the edge of her seat, hoping that they wouldn't crash. Ophelia was cackling, ready for the adventure. The rocket climbed higher and higher, gaining speed, while Susan started to scream in fright.

Hermione grabbed her radio and called up to Jacob's Ladder. _"What's going on up there? Is everything ok?"_

_"Yeah!"_ shouted back Ophelia, making herself heard over the cacophony. _"All the gages are normal, and there aren't any alarms going off. It's just Susan screaming her head off."_

_"Oh, well, good luck!" _wished Hermione. She almost wanted to be in the rocket with Ophelia, but then again, she didn't want to be in the rocket with Ophelia. Besides, someone who knew what they were doing needed to be on the ground, in case of an emergency. Hermione had discovered that they could still use magic inside, so she'd asked Mib for some help in creating emergency portkeys. All the wearer had to was say, _"House of cards!"_ and they'd be portkeyed back to their room in the manor house.

Ophelia had asked if they'd come up with a name for the house yet, and they hadn't so she'd asked if she could have the honors. Hermione and Susan had agreed, but Ophelia hadn't gotten back to them on it. Hermione was hoping that the name made sense, while Susan just wanted a fun name.

Soon Hermione couldn't see the rocket anymore, and while she kept one eye on the safety gages, she opened up one of the computer files. It contained all of the calculations for the rocket's launch. Looking over them one last time, she sighed in relief. She'd thought she'd forgotten something, but it had just been needless worrying.

Back in Jacob's Ladder, Susan was beginning to calm down; they hadn't crashed yet, and Ophelia had said that if they were going to fail it'd happen in the first twenty seconds. Looking at the screen, where she could see their plotted course, she noticed that they would have to travel for two days. _"Hey Ophelia?"_

_"Yes?"_ Ophelia answered.

_"Doesn't it say here that it'll take another two days to get there?"_

_"Oh?"_ Ophelia leaned forward, confirming it for herself. _"Yes, I suppose it does."_

_"What're we supposed to do?"_

_"I don't know. Maybe I'll practice some of my tricks."_

_"Tricks?"_

_"You know, making things appear and disappear, changing one thing into another; tricks."_

_"Don't you mean magic?"_

_"It's not real magic, but some people call it that."_

_"Ophelia, you know that magic is real, right?"_

_"Oh, yes. There really isn't any other way I'd actually be able to make a regular car fly."_

_"Wait, you made your car fly?"_ asked Susan, incredulous.

_"What else would I do with magic?"_

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Dumbledore was struggling up the steps to get to his office. He'd just gotten back from an emergency Wizengamot meeting the day before, when the ICW had their scheduled meeting, which he was late to, and his staff had called a meeting as soon as he had returned. Now, he'd need to rest. However, he needed to write a letter first. Pulling out a quill, he accidentally knocked over a device on his desk that shattered when it hit the floor.

Sighing, he reached down and retrieved some of the device. When he got a good look at it, he nearly collapsed in worry. It was one of the ward monitors that had been watching over Harry. Just his luck. Now he'd need to visit Privet Drive to replace the monitoring wards. Grabbing a piece of parchment, he hurriedly wrote his letter, and stood up. He grabbed his wand, which he had put down on his desk, and took a pinch of floo powder from the jar on the mantlepiece.

"Number 7, Wisteria Walk!" He walked into the fireplace, which whisked him away to Arabella Figg's house. He dusted his robes off as he stepped out of the fireplace.

"Albus!" cried a voice from the left. Sitting in a chair, a kneazle on her lap, sat Arabella Figg. "I wasn't expecting you."

"Well, I hadn't planned on visiting. However, I accidentally broke one of the monitoring stones in my office. I need to replace it," explained Dumbledore.

"Albus, are you sure that Harry's in the right place?" Arabella asked.

"Arabella, we've had this conversation before," started Albus.

"No, we haven't," said Arabella exasperatedly. "The Dursleys are not the best place for him. They're abusive toward him."

"Abusive? Impossible," breathed Dumbledore.

"I would have thought so, but apparently not. Harry was left here once this summer, and I saw bruises all over. He's unusually small; I think they starve him, and they encourage Dudley to beat him up."

Dumbledore collapsed into one of the kitchen chairs. "You're sure about this?"

"Positive," answered Arabella with a bit of tears in her eyes. "I haven't seen him for the last several days. I've heard that they lock him in his room for days sometimes."

"I need to get over there. I'll be having a word with Petunia." Albus stood up to his full height, and walked out the front door of Arabella's, striding toward Privet Drive. He located Number 4, and knocked on the door. About twenty seconds later, Petunia Dursley cracked open the door. When she saw Albus's face, she shut the door.

"Petunia, I do not intend to leave your doorstep until I have spoken with you," said Dumbledore with a forced calm.

She opened the door wide enough for him to enter, and closed it quickly behind him. "What do you want?" she practically hissed at him.

"I wish to speak to Harry," said Dumbledore.

"I'm afraid you can't," sneered Petunia.

"And I'm afraid that this is a necessity. Show me to Harry," Dumbledore ordered.

"I can't. He's gone, left. Didn't leave so much as a note as to where he'd gone."

"You mean to say," started Dumbledore, rising in anger, "that Harry left you?"

"Well, I, yes."

"Why, pray tell, did Harry leave what I assumed to be a happy, healthy, loving, home?"

"Well, I, er," Petunia stuttered.

"Or was my assumption wrong? That he wasn't loved. Or that he wasn't happy here." Dumbledore was furious, but he stayed calm; it wouldn't do to be sent to Azkaban for murdering his only lead to Harry.

"I, er, don't know what to say."

"I know what you're going to say. You're going to tell me when he left, and where he left from."

"He left about a week ago, and I'm not sure how he left the house. The front door was locked, and there weren't any windows open."

"Are you sure he didn't leave the house like that?"

"Well, no."

Dumbledore pulled out his wand, and muttered a few spells. "There hasn't been any magic done in the house recently, so he left on foot. Goodbye, Petunia. Thank you for your time. I will meet with you at a later date." With that, he apparated out of Privet Drive, and returned to Arabella's house.

"Well? How'd it go?" asked Arabella.

"Harry is no longer at Privet Drive. He ran away about a week ago. We need to find him. Contact Remus and Moody. They'll be best for locating Harry."

"Harry's... gone?"

"I've been blind. I'm sorry for not paying more attention to your reports, Arabella," Dumbledore apologized. "However, right now, finding Harry is our priority."

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

The wait for Jacob's Ladder to get to Flavus Secundus was intense and boring. Hermione had nothing to do other than read, but it was hard to concentrate while Ophelia and Susan were out in space, making their way to the second moon. Ophelia had dubbed the moons Flavus Primus and Flavus Secundus, and neither Hermione or Susan had objected. Hermione rather liked the latin name, and it sounded good to Susan, so they let her name the two moons, with the stipulation that Hermione and Susan could name other celestial objects.

But, the wait was nearly over. The landing module dubbed, 'Libertas,' was closing on the surface of Flavus Secundus. Ophelia was now making hourly reports, and Hermione listened closely from Ground. Although Hermione would have liked to be out in space, she wasn't sure that she wanted to be the first out there. Fortunately, Susan had taken up Ophelia's offer, even if she didn't really know what she was getting into.

_"Ground, this is Libertas. Approaching landing point; ready to begin landing procedures."_ There was Ophelia's signal.

_"Libertas, this is Ground. Confirm: begin landing procedures."_ Oh, how Hermione loved her job.

Watching the video feed from the external cameras, Hermione could see the surface of Flavus Secondus. It was rocky and barren; nothing noteworthy. The Libertas touched the ground, and the landing module prepared to let the crew onto the surface.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Harry was at the door again, and waiting for the man dressed in black to open the door. It wouldn't be long until he'd have his answer. Well, hopefully. He wasn't sure if the man dressed in black would answer him; it was a rather odd question. However, it was one that Harry needed to ask. The man dressed in black's soul was really screwed up, and Harry wanted to get to the bottom of it.

The man in black finally opened the door, and Harry looked up expectantly. The man dressed in black sighed. He probably didn't want to talk with Harry again.

"What do you want, Harry?"

"I have another question to ask you."

"Is it another question about the color of my soul?"

"Yes."

"Why do you feel the need to ask these questions?"

"Because I want to."

The man dressed in black sighed and held the door open, waiving Harry inside. Harry complied, and walked under his arm. The house hadn't changed since Harry had been in it last. The den was clean for the most part; Harry noticed a lone sock lying next to his armchair. The man dressed in black picked it up on his way in.

"So, what's your question?" said the man in black plaintively.

"Your main soul is a silver-purple color. Where did the purple come from? It's not natural."

"Harry, you are way too observant for your own good."

"That doesn't answer the question."

"It wasn't meant to."

"Are you going to answer me?"

"Harry, the answer to the question you just asked is a dangerous one. If I tell you, there's no telling what might happen."

"I don't care."

"Of course you don't." The man dressed in black sighed again. "Why do I always have to deal with the inquisitive ones?"

"Because you're introversive," offered Harry.

"You know too many words for a seven-year-old."

"Answer my question."

"Fine. You know the dark wizard I told you a little bit about last time, right?"

"Voldemort."

"Harry, you are one of maybe four people who say that name with impunity. You, myself, Voldemort himself, and Dumbledore."

"Dumbledore? Who's that?" asked Harry.

"Dumbledore is the headmaster of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, and Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards."

"What's the Wizengamot?"

"Wizards Parliment."

"International Confederation of Wizards?"

"The ICW is like the United Nations."

"Back to my question."

"Right. Voldemort was a truly dark wizard. He did things that no other wizard would dream of doing."

"Get to the point."

"All right, all right. He split his soul."

"He what?" exclaimed Harry, recoiling in horror.

"He split his soul into parts, hiding them in different objects. I only know what one of them was."

"How do you split your soul?" asked Harry meekly.

"You have to do an act of pure evil. Murder in cold blood."

"You mean he split his soul into parts with murder? How many parts did he make?"

"That I don't know. However, I suspect that he made six horcruxes."

"Horcruxes?"

"The soul fragments."

"How does this pertain to my question?"

"Because, Harry, I'm–" A loud crack interrupted them. "Excuse me, Harry. I must get the door."

"Door?"

"Someone has just apparated onto my property. He in now standing on my porch. I will return momentarily."

"Who?"

"I'm not sure, but I have my suspicions."

"Who?"

"He is still at the door, Harry." Harry stopped asking questions, and the man in black stepped out into the hallway. Harry heard the sound of the door opening, and the man in black asked the man standing at the door what his business was.

"I'm here because Harry is," said a gruff voice.

"You are welcome to come into my study down the hall. I don't have any traps I can swear on my magic that I bear Harry no harm."

"That won't be necessary," the gruff voice replied. "Lead the way."

The man dressed in black reappeared in the doorway, and sat back down in his chair. He was followed into the room by a wild looking man with a peg leg and an eye that was spinning around in its socket.

"So you're Harry," guessed the man, one eye on Harry, the other on the man dressed in black.

"Yes," answered Harry. "What do you want with me?"

"I came to check on you for Dumbledore. Are you staying here or?"

"I live on the beach," said Harry.

"Hmm. I'll let Dumbledore know. He should be here in about ten minutes. I'll be off. Harry, stay here." The man left briskly, leaving Harry and the man in black in the den.

"Who was that?" asked Harry.

"That was Mad-Eye Moody. He's a retired Auror, that's law enforcement, and he reports to Dumbledore. He probably tracked you for Dumbledore."

"How'd he get that eye?"

"I'm not sure, but I wouldn't care to know. He's got lots of scars through his years of service."

"Huh, weird guy."

"Very. His motto is 'Constant Vigilence!'"

"His eye would help with that."

"I'm sure it does." The both of them fell into silence, Harry having forgotten his question for the moment, and the man in black not wanting to say it in the first place. They sat there like that until another crack came at the door. The man in black got up again, and Harry stayed in his seat.

"Ah, Dumbledore," said the man dressed in black, "I was expecting you."

"Well, I'm sure you were forewarned. Would you mind taking this inside? I wanted to talk with Harry."

"Certainly," agreed the man dressed in black. "He's in the study. I'll let you two talk alone. I'm in the kitchen if you want me." Harry heard footsteps, and Dumbledore appeared in the doorway. He was just like you expected the wise mentor from the movies. Impeccably dressed, with dazzling midnight blue robes and twinkling eyes behind half-moon spectacles, everything about his screamed 'wise man.' His magic was pure white, and quite bountiful.

"Hello Harry, I've been wanting to talk to you."

"I gathered," replied Harry. Hesitantly, he asked, "What did you want to talk with me about?"

"First, I would like to apologize."

"Why?" asked Harry, flabbergasted.

"For placing you with the Dursleys. I thought you would be safe and happy there, but alas, you were not."

"..."

"I would also like to apologize for not checking on you at all while you were there."

"Ok. What else?"

"Well, I wanted to talk to you about your living arrangements. I am your magical guardian, and, while living in a sand castle is certainly appealing, it isn't exactly safe."

"Sir, what do I need to be safe from?"

"Well, when you were one-years-old, a dark wizard named-"

"Voldemort," Harry supplied. Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. "The man out there told me a couple of things."

"What did he tell you?"

"Well, he told me a little bit about Voldemort, and said that he'd made Horcruxes, but he didn't tell me much else." Dumbledore blanched when Harry mentioned Horcruxes, which didn't surprise Harry.

"Very well. I want to keep you safe from his followers, called Death Eaters, until you were ready for school."

"Hogwarts?" asked Harry.

"Yes. You'll be attending when after you turn eleven, and I want you to emerge from hiding then."

"Why can't I stay at my beach? I protected it a little, and you could probably protect it more, and only you and Moody and the man know where I am, so shouldn't that be alright?"

"Hmm. Perhaps. I shall have to talk with 'the man' about this. Do you know his name?"

"I haven't asked."

"My name is Tom!" Tom called from the kitchen.

Dumbledore blinked. "I'll talk with Tom later. How about we visit your castle, so I can see what kind of wards you have erected around it."

"Ok." Harry stood up, and together Harry and Dumbledore walked down toward his sand castle.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Ophelia was standing in her space suit, ready to open the airlock with Susan to step out onto Flavus Secondus. She'd wanted to go to the moon since she was five, and now she was going to do it! _"Libertas to Ground. Ready to open the airlock."_

Ophelia waited for a minute for the communication to go through, and Hermione responded with, _"Ground to Libertas. Begin."_

Smiling wildly, she closed the airlock behind them, and opened the door to Flavus Secondus. Gravity was lighter than on the ground, but there hadn't been any in Jacob's Ladder or Libertas, so she was ready to hit the ground, so to speak. The ramp unfolded, touching down onto the surface of Flavus Secondus. Ophelia took one step after another, until she was one step away from touching Flavus Secondus with her feet.

_"One small step for a woman, one giant leap for womankind!" _With that, she stepped onto Flavus Secondus.

_"May womankind go on and on!" _replied Hermione.

_"To infinity and beyond!" _shouted Susan. Ophelia stared at Susan.

_"What? It fit the mood!"_

_"I was more wondering how you knew that phrase," _admitted Ophelia.

_"I don't know what you mean."_

_"I don't either,__"_ said Ophelia happily.

_"I believe that Susan coined the term herself."_

_"Yeah," _agreed Susan.

_"Bouncing!__"_ shouted Ophelia, bouncing up and down on Flavus Secondus's surface. Susan followed, and giggled, both loving the experience.

_"Are you bouncing?" _asked Hermione.

_"Yes,"_ answered both Ophelia and Susan.

_"I wish I could. Oh well. Remember to bring back some samples for the lab."_

_"I know," _replied Ophelia. _"But remind us again in fifteen minutes." _Hermione sighed. Sometimes she hated her job.

* * *

**A/N: Cookies to whoever can guess what Tom was about to say.**


	4. Intra Anima Obsero

**Chapter 4: Intra Anima Obsero**

"Well, Harry, the wards are almost complete. I just want to put one more protection on your sand castle," proclaimed Dumbledore, stuffing his wand inside his robes for the moment.

"What's that?" asked Harry, curious. Professor Dumbledore had agreed to let Harry stay in his sand castle, provided that Harry stay within the confines of the beach, and that Dumbledore lay down wards around his house.

"It's called the Fidelius charm," replied Professor Dumbledore. "It uses the trust between two people to keep a secret. I will be keeping the secret of your house's location. I will be performing the charm. All you need to do is answer yes when I erect the charm."

"Ok." This Fidelius charm sounded like a good deal.

"Now, Harry, one thing you should know is that I can reveal your location to any person I want, and they will know your location. I would like to have Arabella Figg and Alastor Moody know the secret. They won't be able to tell anyone else, as they aren't the secret keeper," Professor Dumbledore explained.

"All right, that sounds fine." Professor Dumbledore pulled out his wand again, and put his hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Harry, will you let me keep the location of your house secret, except to those I choose to reveal it to?"

"I will," responded Harry. He could see swirls of reddish-gold magic flowing out of both Harry and Dumbledore. This particular charm used a special kind of magic, it seemed, and right now, Dumbledore was about to activate the charm.

"Fidelio," said Professor Dumbledore. The red-gold swirls of magic solidified, and wrapped around Harry's sand castle, extending itself over the walls and roof. When he finished, Harry could see a red-gold covering around his house, in addition to the other wards that Professor Dumbledore had placed.

He'd included selective apparition wards, so Harry would be able to apparate in and out of his sand castle. Inside Harry's sand castle, Professor Dumbledore had added several bookshelves, which he promised would soon be full of the books that he would send to Harry. It was a rather new experience to Harry, actually receiving something, rather than him taking or buying it.

However, it would be a while, as Professor Dumbledore needed to find the right books for Harry. He didn't know it, but he was quite skilled at magic, and his special eyes made it much easier to understand magic, and therefore, whenever he saw new magic, he'd be able to duplicate it quite easily.

Professor Dumbledore had also hinted at maybe getting him an owl, so he'd be able to ask him any questions he might have. Tom was also nearby, in case of an emergency. Professor Dumbledore didn't trust Tom enough to let him know the secret of where Harry lived, but Tom understood, and didn't hold it against Harry.

Harry hadn't been able to try and get Tom to tell him what he'd been about to say before Mad-Eye had interrupted them. It seemed that Tom was pretty slippery when it came to that subject anyway. Harry didn't mind a whole lot; he had just been curious. One thing Harry had wanted to try, and hadn't yet, was connecting to one of the girls souls with his own, and conversing with them. It'd have to be awfully boring in there.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Susan was having a blast. She'd been so scared when they'd been launching, but Flavus Secondus was actually pretty fun. Since the gravity there was lower, you could jump higher and farther. That in of itself was pretty cool, but Ophelia had brought along a trampoline, which made the already fun adventure truly exciting.

The only bad part was the journey in between, where they hadn't had much to do, other than sit around. Susan couldn't wait to launch into space again; that had been really fun, even if she had been screaming the entire time. Hermione was still back on Terra, as Ophelia insisted it be called. She seemed to want to name everything; it was part of her nature.

Susan jumped on the trampoline again. She'd been gaining momentum for a while now, as it took a while for you to come down. The space suit was restricting, but Susan didn't care that much about it. Hermione would probably design a better one.

Landing on the trampoline again, she rocketed into the air, almost flying. The most fun part was when you floated to a stop, and started dropping. Susan twirled in midair, making the most of her borrowed airtime. She came to a stop in midair, and she started to giggle, gravity pulling back down on her again.

This time, she tried to come down slower. It was almost time to leave, so she'd have to get off the trampoline after these last few bounces. It would take several to stop completely. Susan's feet made contact with the net, and she crunched up into a ball, absorbing most of her downward momentum, and flew back into the air, lower, slower, and less zower.

It took another two bounces to get off the trampoline, which Susan promptly named the Bouncer Mk. I, figuring that they would make better models for later. Ophelia agreed a moment later, and together they lifted up the trampoline and folded it up, so that they could fit it back into the Libertas. After putting the Bouncer Mk. I in the closet, Susan pushed the ready for takeoff button, which prepped them for when their ride home would fly by.

Susan sat back down on her swivel chair, her helmet under her arm, her hair strewn across her face, a smile stretching all the way across her rosy cheeks.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Tom was in deep thought. He was currently wondering whether or not he needed to continue stabilizing his soul. He didn't know how many horcruxes Voldemort had made, and he would need one for every one made. He had three souls to combat the horcruxes so far, but would they be enough?

Tom had been severely amused when Ophelia had taken Susan to one of the moons, but he'd quickly realized the opportunity that it presented. If he could design worlds like that, he could prepare them to fight against the different parts of Voldemort's soul. He'd just need to figure out some different scenarios, and input them into the world. It would take a bit of work, but he still had some time.

The biggest problem he faced was the location of all of the horcruxes. He couldn't combat them if he couldn't find them. If he could subdue the main soul, then he could rip the information out of his brain, but he really had no clue where to start.

Still, the idea of training planets was wonderful, as soon as he could get it to work. He'd have to pull up some plans, but otherwise he would be fine with what he had. Though, if Voldemort had made as many horcruxes as he expected he had, then he would have to take another girl tonight. He had just the perfect girl in mind.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Harry needed to talk to Tom. He'd just remembered the piece of Voldemort's soul attached to him; Tom could help him fix it. Focusing his mind on Tom, Harry apparated, vanishing from his sand castle.

However, Harry didn't reappear at Tom's house. Instead, he reappeared in the middle of a darkened girl's bedroom. The girl was asleep, the covers covering her slumbering body, but she wasn't alone. Tom was also in the room, just about to say the spell.

"Asyli Intimi Abdere." A flash of blue light filled the room. Harry jumped forward, wrenching Tom away from the girl. Harry felt an odd sensation, like water trickling into a stream, crawling down his back. The streams of magic had been disrupted. Harry couldn't see them well, but-

The door behind them blasted open, revealing a woman with her wand out. She cast a spell, and Harry could see the yellow spell flash toward him. He needed to get out. Dodging the spell, Harry's hand grabbed onto Tom's jacket, and he apparated out, back to Tom's house.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

"You blothering idiot!" shouted Tom at the top of his lungs. "You could've killed us both! I don't know what you were thinking, barging in like that, but-"

"I was trying to stop you!" exclaimed Harry. "I didn't know that the spell would work out like that!"

"What were you doing following me around like that anyway?" asked Tom angrily.

"I wasn't following you. I wanted to talk to you about something, so I thought about your location, and I apparated there. It just so happened that you were in some girl's bedroom, trying to destroy her livelihood."

"Wait, you apparated to me?"

"Yeah, don't you focus on a person, then apparate?"

"No, you focus on a location, then you apparate. I've never heard of someone apparating like that. Don't tell anyone that's how you do it. It'd be a nightmare if someone wanted to kill you. They could just apparate to you, rather than apparate to your location."

"…"

"What did you want to talk to me about, anyway?" Tom asked.

"I wanted to ask you about horcruxes. Could you put them inside a person?"

"What, like the container be the object? I guess they could. Why?"

"Because then I'm a horcrux." Tom's jaw dropped.

"You sure about that?"

"Positive. I could feel the maliciousness roiling throughout his soul. It was attached to my soul, and I don't like it there."

"Harry, we need to get rid of that, and put it into a different object. Then we can destroy it safely. Can you take another look at your soul? I want to make sure that it's a part of Voldemort's soul. "

"I know that it is."

"I just want to make sure, Harry. No mistakes."

"Alright." Harry began to meditate, letting his consciousness into the recesses of his soul, opening up to his internal. He soon found himself looking at his soul, still green. The dark silver attachment was still trying to worm its way through the green and speckled ruby shield. However, there was something more. On the other side of his soul, Harry could see another soul, colored a dark green, which contrasted his emerald color, inside of his green-red shield. Pulling himself out of his meditation, Harry looked Tom in the eye. "Tom, I think we have another problem."

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Daphne Greengrass had gone to bed normally, pulled up the covers on her bed, and gone to sleep. When she woke up, she found she wasn't in her bed. She pushed the covers off, and she discovered that she wasn't wearing her regular pajamas, either. Frowning, she looked out the window to try and find her bearings. What she saw confused her even more. The view was unfamiliar, just like everything else.

"_Hello?"_ asked a voice from behind her. She turned around, but saw no one. _"Is anyone in there?"_

"_Yes,"_ answered Daphne, _"there is."_ That was odd, she reflected. Her voice didn't sound normal, either. It sounded as if she was talking inside her head, but she wasn't inside her head. What as going on?

"_You may be wondering what's going on, and I can tell you a couple of things, but I don't know everything myself."_

"_Where are you?" _asked Daphne.

"_The better question is, where are you?"_ replied the voice. Daphne looked around, but saw nothing in her vision to clue her in as to where she was.

"_I don't know," _she said, trying to make it sound like it wasn't a big deal.

"_Last night, someone broke into your bedroom, while you were asleep, and started to perform a spell. I needed to talk to that person about something, and I interrupted him. When I saw what he was about to do, I tried to stop him, but it didn't work like I thought it would."_

"_What did you think it would do?"_

"_I thought it would stop the spell completely. It didn't. Instead, the main effect of the spell transferred itself to me."_

"_What transferred over to you?"_

"_Your soul."_ Daphne paled. Her soul was the most precious and fundamental thing in the world. To have it taken away?

"_So where am I?"_ she asked.

"_You are inside my soul right now. Your soul has been separated from your body, and is currently residing in my body."_

"_What?"_ Daphne was getting confused again.

"_I'm not explaining it very well, but basically, your soul has attached itself to mine, and your mind is inside my soul, in a separate world from the real one. You can't interact with anything in the real world, just like someone else can't interact within this one."_

"_So, I'm going to live inside your soul from now on?"_

"_Unfortunately. I can't separate you from me, because that would kill you, and I can't put you back in your body, because it's too damaged from removing the soul that it can't house it anymore."_

Daphne sat down on the bed. This was a lot more than she was expecting to deal with today. _"There's more. You aren't alone in here. There's a wraith living inside here as well, part of the soul of Voldemort."_

Daphne choked. A part of Voldemort's soul was inside this person's soul? And to think that Voldemort had split his soul? And that it was in here, with her, and could come up and kill her at any moment? She was downright scared.

"_Now, I don't know where he is in there, but he shouldn't be too active. I have this soul shield that kind of protects me from the wraith. He can't take me over while it's still here, and it should protect you as well."_

Daphne's breathing, which had become more rapid, slowed down, and helped her think clearly. There wasn't a way out, a piece of Voldemort's soul was in here somewhere, and she still didn't know whose soul she was residing in.

"_Who are you?"_ she asked again. Depending on who the person was, she might just kill herself and get living over with.

"_My name is Harry Potter. It'd be nice to meet you, but I can't really say that right now. However, I don't know your name."_

"_My name is Daphne Greengrass. I guess it's kind of nice to meet you."_

"_I've heard that I can kind of control what is inside here, but I don't really know how to do it. If you have any questions, just ask. Otherwise, I'll let you explore a little bit."_

"_Alright, I suppose I'll talk to you later."_ Daphne opened the door to her new bedroom, and walked down the hallway. The carpet on the floor was a rusty red color, and the baseboards had little flame patterns on them. The hall ended in a grand staircase, with two griffins for posts at the bottom. Their heads were identical; fierce glares fixed at some spot on the opposite wall.

To her left, a door stood half open, revealing a parlor, which Daphne noted to explore later. On her right was another hallway, which Daphne followed into a exquisite dining room, with the table able to seat several dozen; the chairs were wonderfully designed: soft, high-backed, and with a different dragon carved into the back of each chair. The dinnerware was set for a morning meal, with several choices for eating. Daphne helped herself to an orange and a plate of pancakes with several sausages on the side.

After she was finished eating, she returned to the parlor, which had numerous paintings adorning the walls. Daphne particularly liked one that pictured a small cottage on a lake at sunset; the water reflected the house, and there was a cute swinging chair the Daphne half-wished she could sit on and enjoy the view.

She spent the better half of two hours looking at the paintings, and only realized how long she had spent when she looked out an actual window and saw how far the sun had climbed.

Sighing, she returned to exploring the house, finding another bedroom that she liked because of the dark luscious green carpet on the floor. She wasn't as fond of the sheets; they were a pale pink that didn't quite match the floor right.

The rest of the day was spent in the house, admiring more paintings, comparing carpet and wall colors, sizing up furniture, and examining the woodwork. She found a wardrobe she really liked, with seven squares that each depicted something different. There was a lion on one, a tree on another, and even a witch carved into one of them. Wishing that she could have it moved into her bedroom, even if it was filled with fur coats, she left the room, searching for something else to look at.

She found the armory next, and what an impressive armory it was. Jeweled swords lined the walls, while suits of armor held up their spears and pikes, ready for battle. Shields with all sorts of different crests hung in corners, and there was even a set of throwing knives with delicately crafted handles that balanced just right.

Daphne put on the belt that held the throwing knives for fun, and found that it fit her just right. Giggling a little, she tried throwing one at a wall. To her surprise, she stuck it, and had to really try to pull it out, having wedged it in farther than she had thought. Keeping the belt of throwing knives, she left the armory and had lunch, eating just two bowls of split pea soup and a glass of milk.

After eating, she decided to explore the exterior of the house. She had seen glimpses of it through windows, but hadn't been outside to explore them. Daphne wandered out the back door into the gardens, where she traveled along the garden paths, smelling the different flowers, and taking the beauty of the carefully trimmed hedges and pruned blossoms.

She returned to the house for supper, which consisted of roast turkey and baked potatoes with a side of broccoli, and went to bed early, exhausted after a full day of exploring.

As she pulled a nightdress from her wardrobe, she thought to herself, _'This place may not be so bad after all…'_ She pulled up the covers, and fell asleep instantly.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Harry was stewing over a book on transfiguration. The book was mostly worthless; Harry already could do just about everything in the book. The only thing he really could do was something called the animagus transformation. He didn't really know much about it; the book was pretty sparse; but he knew could do it. The animagus transformation was just a physical representation of your inner spirit animal.

That's where Harry had been running into trouble. With Voldemort's soul tainting his, and with Daphne's soul also attached, he wasn't sure if he could manage it. The transformation was based on the soul, and his had a lot of extra baggage.

Still, Harry wanted to try, and he'd gotten the meditation down quite quickly, as he was already familiar with the process. So far, he'd been able to conjure up an image of the sea. Harry wasn't sure what that meant, so he had been looking in the book to see what he was supposed to do next.

Finding nothing, he put the book back in its place on his bookshelf, and sat back down in his chair. He'd just had an idea, and he hoped it would work. Getting back into a meditative state, he imagined himself under the sea, swimming with the fish. He let his mind wander within the image, and he felt a slight tug on his magic, so he let go, and his magic formed a picture, painting it with his soul.

He opened his eyes, and he saw the sea before him, a sandbar to his right, and a school of fish swimming past lazily. He turned, feeling the urge to chase them down, and snapped his beak on one of the fish. Feeling satisfied, he turned around in the deep blue, and caught a glimpse of something he couldn't quite make out. Behind him was the sandbar, and he swam back toward it, letting his magic go. He tried to figure out the movements, and they seemed to be flapping through the water.

Something large flew past in the water, making Harry contract, pulling into a protective ball. Something about this seemed off to Harry, but he wasn't sure what it was. However, he felt his magic begin to fade, and he knew that his meditation was over for now.

Blinking, Harry refocused on his current surroundings. He wasn't under the ocean; he was sitting in his sand castle, with his hands in his lap. He took his hands out of his lap and stood, walking over to the kitchen, where he began to make his breakfast. He'd forgotten to eat earlier, and now was paying for it in terms of hunger.

Just as he was sitting down to a bowl of oatmeal, Daphne asked him a question. _"Hello, Harry?"_

"_Yes?"_ Harry thought back. _"What do you need?"_

"_I was wondering who the person you needed to talk to the other day was."_

"_Oh, his name is Tom. He's the guy that everyone has been hunting for, but he's actually pretty nice. I'm not sure of the exact reason why he's doing what he's doing, but I have a pretty good idea. I met him about a week ago when I noticed that he had a bunch of different colors in his soul."_

"_What do you mean, different colors in his soul?"_

"_Well, I had lost my glasses one day while swimming, and I need them to be able to see, when I thought, 'Hey, why not try to use magic to see?' I did, and I found that it not only corrected my vision, but it lets me see magic, too. Did you know that love magic is more red, while apparation leaves a purple trace?"_

"_I didn't."_

"_Well, it does. Anyway, I was sitting in my sand castle, and I saw Tom's soul in the distance, and I saw that he had five colors in his soul. Two of them, purple and silver, were really mixed together, but the other three looked like they didn't originate from his soul."_

"_Were you right?"_

"_I was. I went right up to his door, and asked why he had that many colors in his soul."_ Daphne laughed, and Harry smiled a bit.

"_So he recognizes me, and asks me to come inside. He does answer my question, but he's a little evasive about some other stuff."_

"_What did he say?"_

"_He basically told me that they were other people's souls. So I ask him who the souls were from. If they were from a dying person, I wouldn't mind so much, but he tells me they're from seven-year-old girls. I tell him off, saying that he shouldn't be allowed to do that. He agrees, and says that he did it because it was between him making a bad choice and a worse choice. The worse choice was the destruction of Britain, apparently."_

"_And you believed him?"_

"_What reason would he have to lie to me? He'd already asked me not to tell anyone about it, and I haven't."_

"_I don't count?"_

"_You were originally going to be inside his soul, not mine."_

"_I like your soul a lot."_

"_Thank you. Do you have any other questions?"_

"_Did you say sand castle a while back?"_

"_I did. I live in one, actually."_

Daphne laughed again. _"How does that work?"_

"_I built it with magic."_

"_Ok, but it's still kind of funny."_

"_I like living in it."_

"_I said it was funny, not stupid. I don't really have any other questions, so, talk to you later!"_

"_Bye!" _Harry looked down, and realized he hadn't eaten any of his oatmeal. Taking a bite, he found it to be too cold, so he reheated it with magic. Shaking his head slightly, he ate his oatmeal quietly, planning out the rest of his day.

* * *

**A/N: It should be obvious what Tom is, but if you haven't guessed it I won't spoil it. Next chapter should be up on Monday, where Tom will put into fruition his Malicious Multiplanetal Madness, Mk. I. Oh, and Ophelia does stuff, and skime will tip.**


	5. Ad Stellam Contingo

**Chapter 5: Ad Stellam Contingo**

So chronicles the first of many adventures of the crew of the _SSS Phoenix_. The events contained in the journal are 100% true and factual.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

_"Captain, we have a reading on _Aleam Iactus_," _reported the Commander. The Commander was deciphering data that was flashing across the screen in numbers, graphs, and words. _"No life signs, but we have a lock on a secure landing location. Atmosphere is breathable; possibility of restocking our supplies."_

_"Thank you, Commander. Corporal, anything to report?"_ asked the Captain, looking to his officer.

_"No Captain, all systems are normal. Requesting landing for exploration."_ The Corporal looked hopefully to the Captain, who turned to the Commander.

_"Commander, what's your diagnosis?" _asked the Captain.

_"Ma'am, exploration would be advisable; we need more supplies, after the _Ebibo_ incident, and we should be able to get them here."_

_"Very well, I shall prepare the landing party. Corporal, is the APV ready for use?"_

The Corporal saluted. _"APV is ready for use; repairs were finished yesterday, after it had been damaged in the _Ebibo_ incident."_ The Commander winced. It had been her fault that they'd nearly destroyed the APV on _Ebibo_, even if the Corporal was to blame for suggesting the landing party.

_"Good; prepare the _Quantum_. We will launch in fifteen minutes. Commander, get ready for a landing party. We're going down onto Aleam Iactus."_

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

_Aleam Iactus_ was a peaceful planet, with luscious forests and bountiful waters. Resources were abundant, and the tranquility was rarely interrupted. Today, the serenity of _Aleam Iactus_ was broken by the sound of a landing module blasting across the sky, the sound boom erupting behind them. Loudly, the landing module slowed to a respectable speed, and touched down in a grassy field.

The doors of the landing module slid open, revealing three intimidatingly dressed girls, sitting inside an apparatus that looked like it could go anywhere. Indeed, that was its purpose, as an All-Planetary-Vehicle, to be able to cross vast plains, weave through dense forests, ascend towering cliffs, and dive into immense seas. The APV, headed by the Corporal, started up, rather quietly for something its size.

Until the Corporal revved the engine, that is. Zooming out of the _Quantum_, which shut its doors behind them, the APV dashed across the grassy field the _Quantum_ had landed in. With the Corporal grinning evilly, the Commander holding onto her seat for dear life, and the Captain taking in the stunning visuals of the planet, it would be hard to believe that this wasn't exactly how they usually acted.

Then again, from their descriptions so far, you would be hard pressed to realize that these intrepid explorer's were only eight years of age. Conceding the fact they they were very intelligent to begin with, and that they were not normal in the usual sense of the word, the three young girls were doing what they did best: playing. Having the normal means of play taken away from them, they had turned to exploring the stars, and had done so for about three months.

However, that is beside the point. These girls knew what they were doing; this was their fourth landing party, and they had worked out the bugs from the previous three, the worst of which was the infamous _Ebibo_ incident. Good luck trying to get any information on what they had done on that expedition.

But for now, we'll look at their adventure on _Aleam Iactus_, as it will be far more interesting than any of the previous three.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

After listening to the Commander's complaints for about ten minutes, the Captain finally told the daring driver to decelerate dutifully. Complying with a catering complexion, the Corporal slowed down, obeying the obstinate officer. With the APV moving slower, the Commander was finally able to enjoy the verdant plains. Spotting something in the distance, she pointed in the direction that she had seen the shape in.

The Corporal pivoted, though how this was possible in a fast moving vehicle was uncertain, and headed toward the unknown object. This proved to be essential to this adventure's plot, as every plot needs a device to begin, and this was it. Granted, the three young explorers didn't know this at the time, but it was obvious enough after the fact; and, as this is being told after the fact, you may as well hear it in an after the fact manner.

Upon reaching the place where the Commander thought she had seen the shapeless shape, the Corporal exited the APV, and the Commander and the Captain followed. Hunching over the spot, the Corporal commented carefully, _"Commander, I see nothing to indicate any sort of presence that you had described earlier. However, we should still look around for clues."_

_"Indeed," _agreed the Captain. _"Corporal, take charge."_

The Corporal did take charge, and together they found a few pieces of interesting grass, a lump of dirt, and a piece of metal that looked remarkably like an American penny. Taking a moment to examine said object, the Commander turned it over in her hand. _"Captain, I have an odd feeling about this..."_

_"Describe it; it helps immensely," the Captain ordered._

_"All right. I feel like this is connected to something, and we're missing it, but we should be able to find it soon. I do with that we could find it, but I'm not sure that we can find it right now. We should head back to the-"_

What she was about to say was lost in the rumbling, as a large opening appeared in the ground, leaving much to be guessed as to how it had occurred.

_"Captain, we should wait before exploring the fissure. We don't know if it'll close up immediately or if another fissure will destroy it."_ Wisely, the Captain agreed, and they sat about and waited for a while. The Captain, easily bored, pulled out a sandwich, and began eating. Soon, the Commander and the Corporal had joined her, biting into their sandwiches with relish(it only had peanut butter and jelly, not mustard).

The Captain's decision was wise, because after she had finished her sandwich, the fissure closed, sealing up. Having avoided disaster, the Captain pondered their situation for a moment, and began to relay orders. _"Commander, pack up the lunch bag; Corporal, take it back to the APV; Captain, follow your orders. Yes ma'am!"_

The Captain often found it amusing to order herself to do certain tasks, and replying to them. The Corporal despaired over having an insane Captain, but the Commander enjoyed the Captain's company, so the Corporal was unable to find support for a mutiny. When the Commander handed over the bag full of empty wrappers, the Corporal took it in hand, but tripped on the way back to the APV, and lodged her foot in the little hole. Trying to pull her foot up dislodged more dirt, and after tugging for several seconds, she broke her foot free, and the ground fell away beneath her. Screaming, she clung to the edge of the now growing sinkhole. Both the Commander and the Captain rushed toward her to help, but she told them to stay away, saying, _"I don't want you to fall trying to help me up!"_

The Captain complied, but the Commander still attempted to assist her. Running around the sinkhole, she grabbed the Corporal's arm, and hoisted her out of the pitfall. Sod and dirt stopped falling, and the three girls got their first look at the sinkhole.

_"This definitely warrants inspection,"_ commented the Captain. _"Corporal, I want the APV ready for unsteady terrain and extreme slopes."_

The corporal complied, making it back to the APV and hopping in, pushing several different buttons and pulling some levers. She drove the APV over to the Captain and the Commander, who got in, strapping themselves in for a rougher ride than normal. Anchoring the APV to the surface with several ropes, they began their descent.

Down and down they went, going further and further, until it was so dark that the Corporal had to put on the lights. Glancing about the sinkhole, which looked to be less and less like a sinkhole, and more and more like a ravine, the Captain made several observations. First, that this wasn't a normal ravine/sinkhole; second, that the rock walls were crafted into pattern; third, that as they got closer to the bottom of the ravine/sinkhole, the narrower it got. Soon, it became to narrow for the APV to go down any further. Again, the Corporal anchored the APV in place with taut ropes, which stabilized it for the ropes that the Corporal, the Commander, and the Captain would use to repel down to the bottom of the ravine/sinkhole.

Clipping the ropes to some harnesses that the Corporal pulled out of the APV, they repelled down the rocky wall, which was still too unusual for the Captain's tastes. It took about another twenty minutes for the three of them to reach to bottom. At the bottom, the ravine widened out to a cavern. Looking about, the Corporal spotted a narrow tunnel to their left. Upon further inspection, they decided that the Commander, as the biggest of them, would go for a ways, and come back. She left behind a rope that was attached to her harness, so they'd be able to communicate easily.

After about ten minutes, the rope pulled thrice, and the Captain and the Corporal breathed a sigh of relief. They quickly followed the Commander's lead, and they crawled through the tunnel, which widened out enough that they'd be able to hunch through the tunnel. They found the Commander sitting down before a large doorway. The door was made out of skulls and bones; the doorway out of solid steel. The Commander looked up when she saw the two of them approach.

_"I found this, and I didn't want to open it without you. I do think this is very off, though. It's almost like the island is inhabited, but I didn't find any signs of intelligent life on my scans."_

_"Maybe they're hiding themselves," _suggested the Corporal. _"If they live underground, wouldn't it be hard to locate the locals on your scan?"_

_"It might. However, I left my monitoring equipment in the APV, so I can't do another check right now, and I don't think it would be worth our time to go all the way back for it."_

_"True, but why don't we take another break here; drink some water; get a snack; then we'll figure this out."_

The break allowed both the Corporal and the Captain to examine the door further. It appeared to have been built recently, but hadn't been opened. About five minutes later, more rumbling could be heard, and the three of them shared worried looks. If the ravine/sinkhole collapsed, then they wouldn't have a ride back to the _Quantum_. They could vaguely hear the sound of crashing rock, but they didn't dare move. Then, all was quiet. Nothing was making a sound.

Breathing a sigh of relief, the Captain looked the door up and down one more time. _"We should get a move on. I have a feeling our only way out is forwards. Ready?"_

Both the Commander and the Corporal nodded. The Captain raised her hand, and knocked on the door three times rapidly. Instantly, bones shot out of hiding places, inches away from their necks. A voice could be heard on the other side of the door. However, none of the three understood. The Captain stood tall, and said commandingly, _"I am the Captain of the _SSS Phoenix_;__ I wish to speak to your leader."_

Hissing could be heard from the other side, and the bones moved closer to their necks, but the Captain didn't even flinch. Suddenly, the bones retracted, and the door opened inward slowly, dust that had settled falling to the ground. Light shone from the doorway, and the Commander and the Corporal put their hands in front of their eyes. Standing in the doorway was an alien. Its skin was blue splotched with purple, and it had four eyes on its head, which was hunched into its shoulders. It had three fingers on its hand, and its arm was long and stringy. It had four legs; two in back, which were flung out behind it, and two in front, which were shorter than the back legs, but thicker and straighter.

_"Welcome to Isswiths,"_ began the alien in english, _"I am Haristh. Please, follow me."_

Raising her eyebrows, the Captain motioned for the two junior officers to follow her, and they fell in step behind the alien. The Captain was unsure how the alien had spoken english; the alien's mouth was wide open, and had no lips or tongue that the Captain could see.

The passageway that Haristh was leading them down was largely undecorated, with the torches being the only thing on the walls. However, the torches themselves were very interesting, with the flame covering the end of the stick, but its light wasn't flickering like a normal flame. Instead, they were all growing and shrinking in sync with each other. The passageway was long and sloping downward, and the Captain had the feeling that they weren't welcome here, even if Haristh had said otherwise.

Finally, they reached the end of the passageway, where a door similar to the one they had found earlier stood, blocking further progress. _"This is the side entrance to the throne_ _room," _explained Haristh._ "Inside you will see a another door. Knock, and wait for someone to answer you. Then, Regi Yarrol will see you."_

_"Thank you for your hospitality," _returned the Captain, bowing slightly. The door opened outward, and the three girls walked into the room. Once the door had closed behind them, the Captain tired to the Corporal. _"Corporal, threat analysis?"_

_"Of course." _The Corporal spent a minute just looking around the room, but touched nothing. _"Threat level: very high; Possible escape routes: three. Captain, there are traps everywhere in here, what should we do? We can't touch the door, because it's likely booby trapped, and the way back is blocked. That leaves just one way out, but I'm not sure how well guarded it is."_

_"Can you use the EME scanner? It might be able to detect some traps?"_

The Corporal bit her lower lip. _"I left that in the APV. It was too heavy and obtrusive to bring down by rope like that."_

_"Then we'll have to try and do what Haristh suggested. Do you have something we can throw at that door?" _The Corporal rummaged inside her bag for several seconds, and pulled out a rock. Taking a deep breath, she tossed it at the wall, and it struck it with a thud. Instantly, spikes flew up from the ground, and one of them hit the rock with its tip, sparking. The spark caught on the hilt of one of the spikes, and lit the spear on fire. The three girls tensed, as if waiting for something else to happen. The spear burnt in two, and the top half, charred and blackened, hit the ground with a clatter. A small circle of the floor dropped an inch down, and through the opening, gas started to pour out.

_"Air masks on!" _shouted the Captain. The Corporal and the Commander didn't need to be told twice. They pulled down their sleeves, and covered as much of their skin as possible. It took a while for the gas to peter out, but eventually the Captain held up her hand. The Corporal pulled another device out of her pack, and pushed a couple of buttons. A red light blinked twice, and a blue light twice after that. Breathing a sigh of relief, the Corporal pulled off her mask, and the Captain and the Commander followed suit. The Commander's ears perked up.

_"Quiet!"_ she hissed. _"They're coming to check on us. We should get out of sight."_

Racing to either side of the room, they flattened themselves against the wall, and just in time. The door that they had come in from opened, and Haristh stepped in, followed by two armored aliens. Fortunately, they walked past the three girls. Gesturing with her hand to get out, the three girls snuck out of the room, and crept down the hallway. The Commander was in the back, looking behind to see if they were being followed.

They continued until the Corporal accidentally put her hand up against the wall, and leaned in. The wall followed suit, sinking back into the rock face. Motioning for the Captain to come over, she continued to push on the wall, until it revealed a secret passage leading off to the left. Letting the wall back into place, the Commander flashed on her headlamp, and surveyed the passage. _"I think we should wait here. Maybe we can double back."_

_"Why not follow the passage?"_ whispered back the Corporal.

_"Because it leads in the same direction as the cave in. We won't be getting out that way, remember? Besides, they won't expect us to double back."_

_"I have to agree with the Commander, Corporal. However, we should wait a couple minutes before we go back, just to make sure they pass us."_

Waiting in the relative darkness for about fifteen minutes, the trio went over their gear. The Corporal had a lot in her pack; it was a wonder that she fit it all in there. Different devices; bombs; rope; rations; duct tape; she had it all. The Commander had three knives of various sizes that she always kept on her. The Captain was surprisingly barren; she only had a knife, gas mask, and uniform. However, she had what she needed.

Creeping back along the passageway, the three girls kept constant vigilance, watching their every surroundings. It took ten minutes to get back to the gas room; both doors were open, and no one was watching them. Silently stalking through the room, the Corporal made sure to check the other side of the door for traps. Luckily, there were none. As they exited the gas room, they entered a long hallway. Its tall pillars reaching the ceiling, and concealing statues of other aliens like Haristh. It didn't take long for them to reach the end of the hall; they didn't want to spend any more time here than necessary.

Unfortunately, their luck ran out then and there. A swarm of guard appeared behind them, and the three girls were forced to be handcuffed, and they were forcefully moved down the the hall. Taking a right, they found themselves before another set of doors, which opened up into another hall. At the end of the hall stood a throne, high-backed and had alien faces carved into the armrests. Sitting upon the throne was a regal-looking alien, and more than a dozen armed guards were stationed around the king. Cursing under her breath, the Commander muttered a couple choice swear words.

_"Greetings, strangers,"_ intoned the alien king. _"Welcome to my kingdom."_

_"I have not exactly felt welcome, your-"_

_"What do you mean by that, stranger?" _asked the king, confused.

_"We were attacked with poison gas and nearly speared upon a trap. Forgive me if your hospitality is in question."_

_"Who was in charge of your tour?" _hissed the king.

_"Haristh," _answered the Corporal. _"He specifically recommended to knock on the door, when he knew that a spear trap would activate."_

_"Haristh is a disappointment to our kind. Find him and bring him forth!" _he ordered. _"I apologize for your experience. We have guest quarters that Urqor will lead you to."_

_"Yes, your Regalness!" _the alien in question replied, saluting oddly, raising just his middle two fingers to his forehead.

Following the alien to their quarters, the Captain managed to whisper to both the Commander and the Corporal, _"I still don't trust them. Check the quarters, and don't eat any food they give you. Be respectful, even if their goal is to kill us."_

Luckily, their escort didn't hear them, and he stopped just outside a door, which he opened for them. Inside the room was a king size bed and similar furnishings. The Corporal glanced over the room once; _"It'll do," _she said curtly. The escort closed the door, and the Corporal did a more complete search. She found several fatal traps, and disarmed them. She also found one secret passage underneath their bed.

Just as the Corporal was finishing up her search, the door opened quietly, and the three of them pretended to ignore it. Waiting until the last moment, the three of them pulled out their knives and put them to their would-be-ambushers throats. The three aliens were holding spears, ready to strike.

_"Just what exatly were you planning to do here?"_ breathed the Captain into the guard's ear.

_"I...uh...we...ah-"_ the alien stuttered.

_"Thought you might come and run us through? We are guests of the king."_

_"Well, I-"_ started the guard.

_"Or is it that you were ordered by the king?"_

Beads of sweat were running down the guard's face, and his heart rate was steadily rising. The other two guards were having similar problems. _"No, we-"_

_"Then why are you here?"_ asked the Captain, gently pressing her blade further into the alien's neck. Gulping, the alien tried to breathe in and out.

_"Yes!"_ the alien cracked. _"The king ordered us here. Will you let us go?"_

_"No,"_ answered the Captain, _"You might report back to the king. Commander, run them through with their spears."_

The look on the alien guard's face was fixed with terror, and the Commander ripped the spear from his hands, and drew back her arm. Moments later, all three lay dead on the floor, impaled on their spears with looks of fright on their faces.

_"I think we should check out the tunnel,"_ suggested the Corporal. Assenting with a nod, the Captain watched as the Corporal hopped down first, gesturing for the other two to follow her.

_"It's not that bad of a secret tunnel. I'm not sure where it leads, but make sure that we don't leave any traces of our presence down here."_

_"Alright, let's go."_ The tunnel sloped upward, which was a good sign, as all they wanted to do was to get back to the _Quantum_, and hook a ride back to the _Phoenix_. Gradually, the tunnel narrowed, forcing the three of them onto their knees. Crawling along the tunnel, the Captain became aware of a distinct dripping sound. As they got further, it quickly became a trickle, then a gushing. Pressing her ear to the side of the tunnel, she listened intently for the direction of the sound.

_"Corporal, can you tell me what you make of this noise?"_ The Corporal turned around, which was difficult in the tight space, but she managed, and listened for the gushing sound.

_"I'm not sure, but I think it's a small underground stream, and it's flowing downward. It should be to our right. I don't think we'll have any problems."_

Unfortunately, the Corporal was wrong; the tunnel, which had kept them at a slow crawl, widened out, and they found themselves in the bottom of a pit, with a waterfall splashing down into a deep pool. The pool fed into an stream which crossed the entire pit, before vanishing into the rock wall. On the other side of the stream, carved directly into the wall, was a flight of stairs, small and treacherous, but stairs reaching the surface all the same. However, a troop of alien guards were stationed at the bottom of the stairs, making a regular approach impossible.

_"Get down!"_ hissed the Corporal, ducking beneath a rock, hoping that she hadn't been seen. The Captain and the Commander followed, peeking around the rock carefully, observing the aliens. They hadn't noticed them, but they kept their conversation quiet, just in case.

_"What do we do?"_ asked the Corporal, turning to the Captain.

_"I've got a plan,"_ piped up the Commander. She told them her plan, and the Captain smirked devilishly. The Corporal pulled out two things from her pack, and the Captain adjusted her knives.

Then, they went into action. The Commander and the Corporal creeped along the ground, not even raising up to a crawl. The Captain went the other direction, pulling out one of her knives, and readied herself to throw it. Slipping into the water, the Captain swam across the deep stream, trying not to make even one splash. She surfaced, hiding behind a rock that lined the edge of the stream, knife in hand, and took a breath. Peering over the rock, she saw the seven guards, and overheard some of their conversation.

_"-still don't see why we have to be here. I mean, there's no way that the three aliens made it here; Darfu isn't one to fail_," said one.

_"This is just a precautionary measure, Keefil. Don't be so melodramatic,"_ replied another.

_"But I still-"_ started the first.

_"Enough,"_ interrupted a third voice. The distinctly male voice must belong to the leader. _"I don't want to have to explain why an idiot fell into the Undool pool."_

_"Yessir,"_ squeaked the first voice. Obviously, these aliens couldn't swim; their mouths couldn't close. The Captain waited for the Corporal and the Commander to get into position. They had the harder part, but the Captain didn't mind. Her part still had enough risks as is. Studying the opposite rock wall, she noticed where the Commander had pointed out earlier. Smiling, she looked over to where the Corporal and the Commander were supposed to be. She saw the brief flash of light, but the guards didn't notice; they were too busy conversing to see. Raising her hand out of the water, she threw her knife at the crack in the wall.

The guard turned to investigate the noise, leaving the Captain to jump out of the pool and run silently across the pit's bottom. Two guards were easy pickings for the Captain and the Commander, while the Corporal lobbed a flash-bang into the air, so when the guards realized they had been ambushed, they turned right into the flash-bang, which blinded them momentarily. Unfortunately for them, both the Captain and the Commander had their next targets picked out. When the light faded, the last three guards saw what killed them; three knives imbedded themselves into three chests, and they crumpled to the ground, dead.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Their next obstacle, the stairs, was harder than ambushing the guards. The stairs wasn't meant for humans to climb up, and certainly not eight-year-olds. Still, they managed, even though the Corporal almost fell once. When they surfaced, they took in the beautiful sunset on the horizon. Purple mixed with orange, the circular star slowly descended out of sight. The Corporal pulled another device out of her pack and pressed three buttons. The device, which was spherical, had a red and white stick inside, and it was pointing away from the sun.

_"The Quantum is that way,"_ announced the Corporal.

_"All right, lead the way,"_ ordered the Captain. The three girls traversed the plains as the sun continued to set, darkness falling all around them. They reached the _Quantum _just after the stars had filled the sky. It wasn't often that they were able to see the stars from a planet, and the Captain was enjoying it immensely. The view from space, while spectacular, didn't have the same feeling as standing on a foreign field and watching the stars. The _Quantum _was just as they had left it, and the Corporal opened the door with a passcode. Inside was the familiar surroundings of their landing module, and the Captain ran her hand along the back of her chair.

_"Captain, ready for takeoff,"_ reported the Corporal, who was flipping a number of switches and pushing buttons.

_"Take us away, Commander."_ The Commander grinned, and she throttled the ignition, lifting the _Quantum_ off the ground. The ground fell away as the _Quantum_ exited the atmosphere, the Captain watching out the window. _"Corporal, I want you're designs for another APV next week; I want to try another expedition here."_

_"Captain!"_ the Corporal saluted. She pivoted, leaving the room for her makeshift engineering division. The Captain smiled. While the day hadn't gone as she had planned, she'd still had an adventure. Pulling out her Captain's log, she started describing the day's events...

* * *

**A/N: Well, how was the for a transition chapter? I'm not sure what to do next chapter; I might just write another _SSS __Phoenix_ adventure, but I'm not sure. If you want another one, just tell me in a review. Next chapter might be out a bit later. Friday, possibly, though if I get it done by Thursday, then I'll post it. Longest chapter yet! Word count may rise per chapter, but don't count on it. Anyway, thanks for reading.**

**Edit: Forgot to mention the no names thing. You can leave your guesses as to who they are in reviews, and the three options are Ophelia, Susan, and Hermione, obviously. Thanks for reading, and you'll get a more normal chapter on Thursday.**


	6. Ad Ludum Paro

**Chapter 6: Ad Ludum Paro**

Harry apparated into the Leaky Cauldron at exactly 10:00 a.m. on July 31st. He was here for his school supplies, including: his wand, textbooks, robes, and potion ingredients. Even if Professor Dumbledore had already gotten him a potions kit years ago, he still wanted to get the regular school kit. Hedwig, his snowy owl and familiar, sat comfortably on his shoulder, content to rest for now. Professor Dumbledore had gotten her for Harry's tenth birthday, and he'd enjoyed her company ever since. Daphne also helped to ward off boredom when it struck.

Daphne had helped him immensely with his studies, as she was keeping up along with him. Her advise on etiquette had also really helped Harry, as he was the Boy-Who-Lived, as well as the heir to the Potter name. Today he would find out about his inheritance, among other things, as Harry needed to go to Gringotts for money.

Secretly, Harry hoped that he only had a modest fortune; he didn't really like attention. So, Harry had put up a glamour, just in case. Hopefully, he'd make a short run, but he didn't count on it. However, as soon as he opened the gateway to Diagon Alley, his jaw dropped. His eyes were overloading his visual circuits; there was just so much to take in.

Red, blue, green, yellow, orange, pink, brown, purple, even the occasional silver, there was just so many colors all at once. Harry closed his eyes, which saw through his eyelids anyway, and took a deep breath. He strolled down the street, trying to ignore the stores and merchandise. It was harder than it looked.

He finally made it to Gringotts, but not without looking intently at some particularly interesting things. Namely, a specific bookstore called Reddon and Jacobson that specialized in rarer texts, as well as Magical Menagerie, where he hoped to find some more care stuff for Hedwig.

The entry hall to Gringotts was the most impressive thing Harry had seen, with its beautifully crafted marble floors with gold trimmings, even if the floor had a bit more foreboding feel. Harry knew that it was only his eyes that could see through to the enchantments, but it still gave him the creeps looking at it, especially if he saw some of the things he thought he was seeing.

Harry waited patiently in line until a teller opened up. He walked up to the imposing goblin, and said in perfect Gobbledegook, "Greetings, goblin. I must see to my vault; here is the key."

Harry handed the key over to the goblin, who had a very surprised look on his face. Smirking, Harry waited for the goblin to respond. After the goblin's brain rebooted, he shouted over to one of the other goblins, "Griphook, take this man to Vault 687!"

Griphook, as that was what Harry assumed his name was, came over to Harry, and he led Harry over to a door, behind which stood a cart, which they both climbed into. The cart suddenly blasted out of the little room, taking Harry and Griphook down into the Gringotts' tunnel system. Harry started memorizing the way down: left, right, right, left, middle fork, right, left, right fork, left, right, middle fork, down spiral, straight fork, right, right, left and left.

Griphook stopped the cart when they reached his vault, which he opened with a wave of his hand. Walking inside, Harry grabbed about a hundred Galleons, with a bit of change in Sickles and Knuts, and left.

On the way back up, he engaged Griphook in a conversation about the Gringotts wards.

"Do you really expect them not to see through the stage four collapse points on that vault?" asked Harry.

"Not many realize that there is a fourth stage, Mr. Potter," replied the goblin. Harry raised his eyebrows, and the goblin grinned. "That glamour is designed for human eyes, not goblin's."

"That would explain how you saw through my disguise, but-"

"You are well know amongst goblin circles as well, Mr. Potter."

"Ahh. What's the point of the sixth stage ward on that vault? It seems only to work once the ninth layer hits, but why not put it on the eleventh layer, where the two are almost exactly alike. It'd be hard to confuse them then. You'd be hit with two attacks, and you'd have to deal with one or the other, since the eighth ward would drain you of your main magical core in the first place."

"That is not something that I deal with, Mr. Potter. However, I will look into what you are saying."

Harry smirked inwardly. He'd gotten the goblin to fall for it. He'd just replaced himself with an illusion, and hopped out of the cart, floating magically, and now he had free reign until the goblin figured it out. Slinking up to the nearest vault, he opened it through a flaw in the wards, that bypassed the first ward which just repelled you backwards. Harry tricked it into not going off until another goblin opened it up. Hopefully, he'd picked one that would be opened soon. Carefully avoiding the sixteen objects that had alarms on them, he closed his eyes, and started to magically expand one particular part of the vault. He'd worked out how to hide his magical signature by covering up his signature with Daphne's (she didn'nt mind him using it), and by using his own while doing regular casting. Wandlessly moving as much treasure into the space as possible, and collapsing the outer field, he attached the spell to a rock he had picked up for this purpose.

Transfiguring part of the wall to say, "Check your pockets! -Audacity," he left the vault and picked up the signal from his illusion leaving the cart with Griphook. He started running up the tracks, but even with some of the conditioning he had put himself through on the sandy beaches wasn't enough to prepare him for a mile-and-a-half run uphill. Harry's illusion was asking Griphook a couple of more questions, trying to keep him busy, while Harry caught up.

Pulling out the invisibility cloak Dumbledore had returned to him as he ran up the last few meters of track, he slipped out of the room that Griphook had led him through earlier, invisible, and approached his illusion carefully. He'd have to make the switch very cautiously, but he could do it. Casting another wandless illusion, he removed his invisibility cloak and replaced his illusion with himself, then dropped both illusions. Griphook didn't notice, and Harry finished up the conversation quickly.

"If you'll excuse me, Griphook, I have other business to attend to."

"Certainly. I hope to see you again." Harry left Gringotts as fast as he could without attracting attention, celebrating his first major prank.

_"Harry, are you going to throw another party in here?" _asked Daphne, a little irritated.

_"What? No__."_

_"Then why do I hear party music?"_

_"Noisy neighbors?"_ supplied Harry mischievously.

_"Nice try, Harry."_

_"Darn. What did you think of my little prank?"_

_"It's funny, but you need to get rid of the anchor stone, or you could be caught and put to death."_

_"And you'd mourn me for years," _joked Harry.

_"Yes. The fact that I would also be dead wouldn't matter whatsoever,"_ Daphne said flatly.

_"Whatever, I need to shop."_ He ignored Daphne's protests of being cut off, and entered his first shop, Flourish and Blotts. He bought the necessary textbooks, and stopped in at Madam Malkin's. He asked for a private fitting, explaining that he was under a glamour charm, and that he would gladly pay extra for the fee. While he had to drop the glamour for Madam Malkin, he didn't mind that much. He asked her to redo his glamour after she was done fitting him, and she obliged kindly.

As he was leaving the robe shop, he bumped into a pale blond haired boy his age and knocked him down. The boy immediately started raving at him, because he was the heir to the Malfoy family. Harry planted the anchor stone in his pocket and walked off, miffed at the young boy.

At the apothecary, Harry picked out not only the student kits for all seven years, he purchased a portable potions making kit, a self-stirring stick, and a pewter cauldron. Realizing he didn't have anything to put it in, he charmed his pockets with the same space-expanding charm, and stuck his purchases inside.

Finally, he was done with most of his shopping. He only had one stop left; Ollivander's wands. Briskly walking up to the store, he entered, and, seeing no one else around, dropped Madam Malkin's glamour. As soon as he had, a man with large pale eyes appeared from behind the shelves.

"Ah, Mr. Potter. I was expecting you."

"And I was expecting myself. Funny how that works out."

"Yes, yes. You'll need your wand, I suppose," the man, who Harry assumed was Mr. Ollivander, took out a tape measure, which began to measure all sorts of different kinds of lengths, even the distance between his nostrils. Mr. Ollivander was busy pulling off boxes from the long line of shelves, and soon he had an entire stack piled next to Harry. The tape measure stopped measuring things like the distance between his left thumb's fingernail to his belly button, and returned to Mr. Ollivander.

"Here try this one. It's oak and unicorn hair, 10 and three quarter inches, slightly springy. Go on, give it a try." He gestured for Harry to wave the wand. Taking this as an instruction on how to find a wand, Harry raised the wand, colored a yellow-silver-

-and found it being taken out of his hand by Mr. Ollivander. He handed him another, saying, "Try this one. Maple and phoenix feather, seven inches, quite whippy."

And it was pulled out of his hand again, and Mr. Ollivander substituted it for another. "Here. Alder and dragon heartstring. Nine and a quarter inches. Unyielding."

The wand was pulled out of his hand before he could even try to flick it. This went on and on, the pile of wands already tried getting higher and higher, until Mr. Ollivander had to put some away.

He came back with yet another wand, and gave it to Harry. He picked it up, and felt nothing special about it. "Holly and phoenix feather. Eleven inches, and nice and supple."

When Harry waved it, and nothing happened, Mr. Ollivander looked at him confused for a moment. "I-I thought this would be the one-but, no matter." He disappeared behind the shelves again, and Harry had the distinct impression that Mr. Ollivander was trying to find him a wand, but he couldn't, and was relishing the challenge.

Again, Mr. Ollivander came back with more wands, but none of them worked. Harry tried everything, but it was no use. Eventually, Mr. Ollivander beckoned Harry to follow him back to the shelves.

"Mr. Potter, you are a highly unusual case, as I have never seen anyone who has rejected this many wands. I've nearly exhausted my stock. Since I doubt that you will be able to find a match there, I'm going to have to make you a wand from scratch. I've never done this for a customer before, but there's always a first time."

Mr. Ollivander led Harry to the back of his shop and through a door into Mr. Ollivander's workshop. There were sticks of wood everywhere: lining the walls, displayed against red velvet inside glass cases. In one corner lay several hairs, two feathers, and what Harry assumed to be dragon heartstrings. Curiously, Harry watched as the wandmaker gathered his tools and laid them out on his workbench. He gestured for Harry to come over, and he did.

"Move your hand across these wand woods. I want to see what reacts the most." Harry complied, moving his hand across the woods. Harry gravitated toward the holly wood. It's deep green color called out to Harry, and he nodded to the wandmaker.

"Now, go over to the wall and find the Holly section. Try out the different lengths but make sure not to break any." Harry didn't need to be told, but all the same, he drifted his hand over the holly wood, and picked up one that was ten inches long. He put it back in it's hanging spot, and found another like it, but it too, wasn't the right wand base for him. His third try gave him luck, and he took it to Mr. Ollivander. Mr. Ollivander did all sorts of testing for it, and found that it worked well, had no defects whatsoever, and was rigid. He motioned for Harry to try and find which core would suit him best.

Harry scrutinized the wand cores closely, picking over each one of them, but declared each of them unfit. Mr. Ollivander frowned. "I only make wands with these three cores, but maybe that's why you are rejecting all of my wands. Hmm, I shall have to think on this. Perhaps you could come another day. Monday?"

"Sure, I would be available then. How about, 11:00 sharp?"

"Yes, that sounds acceptable. Until then, Mr. Potter." Mr. Ollivander turned back to his workbench, frowning greatly. Harry didn't notice, but a creep of a smile was etching itself onto his face. He hadn't had a challenge like this in a long time.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

_"Harry, it's time to get up."_ Harry groaned, turning over and trying to punch off the alarm.

"Five more minutes," he grumbled sleepily.

_"Harry, get up."_ The voice was far more insistent. Muttering some choice statements, Harry rolled out of his bed and onto his floor. He hit the ground with a thud.

"Fine, I'll get up." He pushed himself up, leaning against the bed. Sighing, he stood, dressed, and walked over to his kitchen, where he cooked himself a breakfast of bacon and eggs. Looking at his clock, which read 9:47, he ate his eggs, stabbing them with his fork.

_"You could have let me sleep another half-hour," _said Harry. _"My meeting with Mr. Ollivander isn't until eleven."_

_"But, now you can be fully awake and ready. Did you read late again?"_ asked Daphne.

_"Yes, I did. Stop ordering me around."_

_"How late?"_

_"That's none of your business!" _Harry snapped.

_"Ooh, very late, huh?"_

_"Whatever."_

_"Do yourself a favor and take a nap today," _Daphne ordered.

_"Good idea. I'll do it now."_ Harry started walking back over to his bed.

_"Harry, you know that's not what I meant."_

_"So? Doesn't mean I can't try."_

_"Calm yourself, Daphne; you need to calm down. Strangling Harry would certainly be satisfying, but unadvisable, since it would strangle me in return."_

_"You're so funny, Daph,"_ Harry said, laughing.

_"Don't call me Daph!"_

_"Yes, Daph."_

_"Harry!"_ Daphne's voice was rising slowly, warning Harry that he needed to cool her down a bit.

_"Daphne, did you figure out what the fix for the sixth layer of that seven-layered reflexive ward was? I was having a bit of trouble getting the poison darts to release at the same time as the electrical shock. The timing was a pain to get right, so I took a break."_

_"Um,"_ Daphne said intelligently, _"I think your problem was that you weren't taking into consideration that the metal tips of the poison darts were slowing down the dart's release by a factor of two, so the electrical charge should be generated after a factor of eight, to give time for the darts to fly."_

_"Thanks Daph. I wasn't sure how the metal tips affected the flight pattern, but they're necessary to get the electrical charge out like that."_

_"If I've told you once, I've told you a million times, don't call me Daph."_

_"If I've heard you once, I've heard you a million times, yes Daph." _Daphne scowled at Harry's impetuous grin.

_"One day you're going to find yourself strangled to death in your sleep_,"Daphne threatened._  
_

_"Yeah, yeah. When it happens, I'll let you know."_

_"Harry, what time to you have?"_

_"Uh, 10:24."_

_"You should get ready to leave. You need to put up your glamour and-"_

_"Yes, Daph."_ Harry cast his wandless glamour charm, and walked out onto his beach. It hadn't changed at all in the four years he had been here. When he reached the edge of the anti-apparation ward, Harry 'apparated' (he still didn't have a term for his person orientated teleportation) into the Leaky Cauldron. He strolled down into Diagon Alley, observing the shopkeepers and shoppers arguing over prices or exchanging money, and even one witch who was trying to kiss the wizard manning a small stand selling amulets.

But for the most part, Harry ignored them as he walked by, because he didn't have any indication that he would be needing any of their services for a while. He reached Mr. Ollivander's place several minutes later, and waited outside until eleven o'clock. He saw a family of red haired children walking by, and the youngest boy, who looked to be Harry's age, pointed the wand shop out to his mother, saying, "Mum, can't I get a wand here?"

"Ron, we already talked about this, you're getting Charlie's old wand," the mother replied as kindly as she could.

"But Mum-"

"Ronald, I don't want to have to say it again."

Seeing an opportunity, Harry walked up to the family. "Why isn't Ron here getting a new wand?"

The mother flushed a little, responding, "Well, our family isn't the most finacially secure, so we do what we have to to get by."

"Why don't you let Ron here go in and get his wand, and I'll pay for it," Harry suggested.

"You don't have to. I mean, Ron will be just fine with Charlie's old one."

"I insist. Ron's going to Hogwart for the first time, I take it? He should have a wand that suits him. Don't worry about the money, he can pay it off by using his wand effectively."

"Well, if you insist." The mother was a little hesitant toward his charity, but she accepted.

"I do. Ron, go ahead and go in." Ron, who had the most freckles of them all, walked inside the wand shop, and Harry heard Mr. Ollivander greet him cordially. Harry waited a minute before going in himself, and he was just in time to see Ron holding a wand in his hand, producing bright silver sparks.

"That will be four Galleons," charged Mr. Ollivander. Harry switched four gold coins into Ron's pocket. Ron pulled them out in near disbelief, but gave them to Mr. Ollivander. He walked out of the shop, cradling his new wand. Then Mr. Ollivander noticed Harry, and he nodded slowly. Walking over to the window, Mr. Ollivander flipped the sign saying, 'OPEN' to the side saying, 'CLOSED'.

As Mr. Ollivander walked to his workshop, Harry thought he saw a glint in a reflection of Mr. Ollivander's eye. "Mr. Potter, since you rejected all three of my wand cores on your birthday, I had to get some special cores from other wand makers. I managed to get thestral hair, yeti fur, and even a basilisk eye strand. Try these out. Keep in mind, I don't normally use these cores, but for you, it's worth it."

"Why don't you use other cores?" asked Harry.

"There are a number of reasons, the primary being that I don't like working with some materials, like yeti fur, or that they are far too rare for regular use, like the basilisk eye strand, which, mind you, is near impossible to find. Thestral hair is far too volatile for my tastes, but you may find it to work for you. There are other materials that I won't use period, like vela hair, because its properties are too temperamental for my tastes. You are a special person, Mr. Potter. I have never made a custom wand before, though my father did for Albus Dumbledore. Shall we get started?"

Harry was led over to where the three new ingredients were laid out, and Harry looked over them carefully with his mage sight. Eliminating the yeti fur, he tried to judge between the basilisk eye strand and the thestral hair. "Mr. Ollivander, is it possible for a wand to have two cores?"

Mr. Ollivander tried to hide his surprise, but Harry saw through his expression. "Yes, it is possible, though so rare that I wouldn't even consider making one. Perhaps you are in need of a dual core wand. I shall have to check over the wand wood, but it certainly is possible."

Mr. Ollivander tested out the Holly base that Harry had chosen on his previous visit. Nodding in satisfaction, he announced, "Mr. Potter, you will be the first and only person that I will ever make a wand like this for. Not only will it have unusual ingredients, it will be dual cored. Please, pick out the two materials you want."

Harry picked up the basilisk eye strand and the best looking thestral hair, and took them to Mr. Ollivander.

"Thank you Mr. Potter. I will need a week to make your wand. Come back at eleven on Monday."

Harry walked out of the shop and returned to his sand castle, impatient for his wand.

* * *

**A/N: So this did come out on Thursday after all. For those of you who guessed, the Captain was Ophelia, the Commander was Susan, and the Corporal was Hermione. I think I'll wait until Harry's settled in at Hogwarts before I do another adventure for the valiant crew of the _SSS Phoenix_. Next chapter out on Monday, you know the drill.**


	7. In Tramine Veho

**Chapter 7: In Tramine Veho**

Today was the day. Today was the day that Harry Potter was going to Hogwarts. He was now waiting at Platform nine and three quarters. The train wasn't due to set off until eleven, but Harry wanted to get there early. It was now 10:19, and he'd been waiting a half-hour already.

Sighing, Harry leaned back into the wall behind him. There were maybe fifteen people here, and none of them were his age. There were three Prefects, and the Head Boy, all of them with their friends. They probably wouldn't want to talk to a firstie like him.

Just then, the fireplace opened up again, and four people stepped out of the fireplace. Harry glanced over them, noting that their magical core's were very similar in their fluorescent pink color. The parents Harry ignored; he was interested in the two girls. Their magical cores were almost identical: the same size, same color, and very similar shapes. About a week ago, Harry had started to notice that magical cores were shaped differently. His was mostly spherical, but he had noticed cuboids, octoids, and even a few icosoids. Harry assumed that how many faces you had on your core was related to how large your core was. So far, Harry hadn't found a reason for the colors, other than all were slightly different. These girl's cores were both dodecadoids, meaning that their cores had twelve sides.

Harry turned off his mage sight. It interfered with his regular vision, because it overlayed everything with its magical color. Taking a good look at the girls, he saw that they were twins. Curious, he straightened, and walked over to where they were looking around.

"Hello," said Harry.

The father noticed Harry, and replied, "Hello, kid, what's your name?"

"My name is Harry Potter," said Harry. The father's eyes widened slightly, and the twins eeped.

"Nice to meet you Harry, my name is Pranay Patil. This is my wife Pallavi, and my daughters Padma and Parvati."

"Nice to meet you too. Is this your first year at Hogwarts?" Harry asked, turning to the girls.

"Yes," answered Padma, "it is. We can't wait to learn magic."

"It'll be my first year, too. I hope to be in the same house as you." Both the twins blushed. Mr. Patil laughed.

"Well, I think we'll be off. You seem to be in good hands. Good day, Harry." Mr. Patil tipped his hat, and left through the fireplace.

"Do you want to get on the train?" Harry asked.

"Um, sure," agreed Parvati. Harry knew that he would likely confuse the two, so he cast a wandless tracking charm that latched onto Parvati's core. Now Harry would be able to tell the two apart. Levitating the girls' trunks, Harry led the girls onto the train.

"Padma, can you pick out a compartment?" Padma nodded, and opened the door to the third compartment on the left. Harry levitated both trunks into the compartment, packing them away under their seats.

"Don't you have a trunk, Harry?" Parvati asked.

"Nope." Seeing their incredulous looks, he added, "I have a pocket."

That just made them look at Harry with even more disbelief. "It's charmed to have an undetectable extension charm, as well as a semi-permanent sticking charm, so I can move it to other robes."

"That's a really good idea, actually. Who charmed your pocket?" Harry was stuck. He had done it himself, but there was no way that they would believe him if he said that.

"Professor Dumbledore did. He was the one who delivered my letter. I asked him about it, and he said that it was a good idea." Harry had asked him about an enchanted pocket, and Professor Dumbledore had been impressed with his suggestion, so much so that he had asked if he could use the idea himself. Now all Harry had to do was to warn Professor Dumbledore about it. A patronus charm would suffice. He excused himself to go to the loo, and found the loo quickly. He entered a stall, and cast the charm. An enormous stag burst from the end of his wand, and vanished as it galloped through the wall.

When he returned, he found the twins giggling to themselves. They stopped when he entered the compartment, but that didn't mean that Harry hadn't noticed. They sat in the compartment in silence for about five minutes, until Harry had enough of the quiet. "So," he started awkwardly, "tell me about yourselves."

The girls giggled again, and Harry nearly rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Well, we're half-bloods," began Padma.

"I meant what do you like to do, and all that," interrupted Harry.

"Oh. I thought-never mind. Anyway, I like to read a lot, and I also like to knit, especially socks."

"Professor Dumbledore really likes socks. Maybe he'd charm a bag or two in exchange."

"Really? How do you know?"

"He mentioned it in passing. I'm planning on giving him a pair or two for Christmas."

Padma squealed, clapping her hands. She pulled out her trunk, and rummaged in it until she found a ball of yarn and four knitting needles. "Do you know what kind of socks he likes?"

"I'm not sure, but I think he likes socks that were made from the heart best."

"Are you sure?"

"No, but from what I know of Professor Dumbledore, that's what he'd want." Padma pulled out a second ball of yarn, and started knitting, her fingers wrapping the yarn around the needles.

"What about you, Parvati?" asked Harry.

"Me? Well, I like to-" She was interrupted by the door sliding open to reveal two older students.

"Oh, is this compartment occupied? Sorry." They left quickly, their voices fading as they walked down the corridor. Harry tried to look where they were going, but they had already entered into another compartment.

"Anyway," continued Parvati, but Harry had stopped listening. He heard something just outside his compartment. He put up a hand to stop her so he could keep listening.

"-really think that Harry Potter is going to-"

"That is what you think. I'm not sure that-"

"Harry, what's wrong?" Padma was looking at him, concerned. The voices moved out of earshot.

"What? Oh, nothing. Thought I heard something. Nothing important." But Harry had a nagging suspicion in his mind that what he had just overheard was really important.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

The train left the station about half an hour later. Outside, Harry could see hundreds of people on the platform, giving their last reminders and final hugs and kisses. Ignoring them, Harry laid back on his seat and rested his head against the top of the seat. He fell asleep for a while, dreaming about pink balls that floated in the air and said stuff. It was very odd.

Harry awoke to find Parvati drawing on his face with a quill. He didn't move or indicate that he was awake, he just let her continue to draw on his face. When she took the quill away, he asked, "My turn?"

She squeaked and sat back down on her seat. Harry started chuckling, and Padma joined him. Parvati hit her sister in the arm. "You were the one who dared me to!" she exclaimed.

"So?" replied Harry. "You were the one who went through with it. You didn't have to. Now it's my turn. Padma, do you have a mirror?" Padma nodded and rummaged in her trunk for about thirty seconds and pulled out a compact mirror, which she handed to Harry. Opening it up, he admired his new look. Parvati had drawn squiggly lines across his nose, and on his cheeks were swirl patterns. Smiling devilishly, he pulled out his pen, since Harry didn't like quills.

Harry immobilized her wandlessly, preventing her from moving at inopportune moments. Harry uncapped his pen and began drawing on Parvati's face. He drew for about fifteen minutes, using his specially designed never-fade-multi-colored-animated ink. The ink actually did fade, but it took about three weeks for Harry, and he had used a spell to constantly wear away at the ink. Suffice to say, it would stay there a while.

The design Harry had drawn was a dragon bearing down on a sea turtle. The sea turtle was oblivious to the dragon, which was breathing fire and flying toward the sea turtle, but the sea turtle would always manage to dodge the dragon's attempts to eat it. Performing the counter-curse to the body bind, he gave Parvati the mirror. She gasped in surprise.

"It's moving!" she exclaimed. "How did you manage that?"

"I used never-fade-multi-colored-animated ink," explained Harry.

"What's never-fade-multi-colored-animated ink?" asked Padma. "And where can I get some?"

"I invented it myself. And I only have enough for my pen. Sorry, Padma," apologized Harry.

"No, it's alright. I don't really need it."

"Harry, how long does it take for this ink to come off?"

"Um, during the preliminary testing, it took three weeks," Harry admitted. "and there isn't a counter-spell."

"So I'm going to have a dragon on my face for three weeks?!" Parvati screeched.

"That's what you get for messing with me. Have you learned your lesson?"

"Yes," Parvati drooped.

"And what was the lesson?" Harry pressed.

"Not to play any practical jokes on you."

"No," Harry corrected, "don't play any practical jokes on me unless you are prepared to feel my wrathful reciprocation."

"Fine, that I can expect your wrathful reciprocation on any practical joke I play on you."

"I have a feeling that this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

After about another hour sitting in his compartment, Harry decided that he fancied a walk. He politely excused himself, and opened the compartment door, stepping out into the hall. Looking both ways, Harry decided to go to his right, and started off down the hallway. He turned on his mage sight, and concentrated on finding the most interesting thing he could. Harry came to three conclusions.

One, that using mage sight was inherently dangerous for his innocence. He really didn't need to see that.

Two, that none of the people on the train had a larger core than he did. It wasn't that relevant, but it was still an interesting fact, especially since he knew that he hadn't gone through magical puberty, when a person's magical core expanded and matured. It started after a person's eleventh birthday, and continued for four years.

Three, that there was something interesting going on in one of the compartments.

Perking up slightly, he headed for the compartment of interest. He reached it a minute later, and knocked politely. The door was opened by an older boy with dreadlocks.

"Hello," he said jovially, "my name's Lee Jordan. Do you want to come in?"

"Yes, I saw something interesting, and I wanted to check it out," Harry replied. "Can I come in?"

"Sure, take a seat." He gestured for Harry to enter the compartment. Inside were four other people. Harry took note of each of them. There were two girls and two boys, twins, that Harry recognized from somewhere. Their striking red hair made it easy; they were the set of twins from the alley, and the older brothers of Ron. The girl on the right was dark skinned with black hair, and the girl on the left also had foreign skin. Harry sat down next to one of the twins, who were currently working on something together. It was built out of playing cards, but they were filled with some kind of magic.

"Did you enchant those cards?" asked Harry.

"Nope," replied one of the twins. "We did modify it a little, but we didn't enchant it ourselves."

Harry turned his mage sight back on, and studied the cards carefully. The enchantment was red in color, but Harry couldn't glean much else from looking at the enchantment. Lee leaned over Harry to get a better look at what the twins were doing.

"So," said one of the girls, "what is your name?"

"My name is Harry Potter." All five occupants of the compartment gasped.

"Are you really?" asked the other girl.

"Yup."

"Why did you come in here?"

"I saw something that looked interesting when I was on a walk, and decided to stop in."

"Wait," started one of the twins.

"You saw something?" said the other.

"From outside the compartment?" finished the first twin.

"How?" they chorused.

"I have this magic vision, and I saw what you were doing. It can see through a lot of things, but it's not that great for actually looking at something," Harry explained.

"You can see magic?" asked one of the girls, incredulous.

"Yes." The two girls looked at each other in awe. Harry shifted uncomfortably.

"How did you manage that? Was it a spell or something?" the darker skinned girl asked.

"Um, actually, I pour magic into my eyes, and it helps me see. I have bad vision, and I lost my glasses one day, so I tried pushing magic into my eyes. It healed my poor eyesight, and when I actively pour magic into them, they can see magic. It's really cool, especially when you see what color someone's core is."

"Core's have colors?" asked the lighter skinned girl.

"Yup. Mine is an emerald green. Your's is a dark orange."

"What about mine?" asked the other girl.

"Your's is a neon blue. It's actually quite startling."

"Really?"

"Yes. What's your name, by the way?"

"Oh," replied the darker skinned girl. "My name is Angelina Johnson. She's Alicia Spinnet."

"And he's Fred," said one twin, pointing to the other.

"And he's George," said the other twin, pointing back to the first one. Harry quickly cast a mild tracking charm on George, just like he had done on Parvati.

"Harry, do you think we could learn mage sight, too?" asked Fred.

"I think so. Your cores are quite large, if I do say so myself, and you could probably learn it. At first it takes a lot of your magic up, but it uses less as you use your sight more."

"What do you mean, our cores are large?" asked George.

"There are two main things that build up your magical core. First is your magical signature, which is unique, and appears as a specific color. And second is the size of your core. It appears in a shape, like a cube or a pyramid. The more sides it has, the more magic you can use. For instance, both Fred and George's cores are bright red in color, even though the color varies slightly, and the shape os their core is the same. Their core is pentadecahedral, which means it has fifteen sides, and that is a lot more than the average person."

"How many sides does the average person have?" asked Angelina.

"About six or eight. Seven is a bit of an oddball, because I have only seen one person with a seven sided core."

"Who was that?" asked Lee, leaning in.

"Professor Dumbledore. Seven seems to be the exception to the side to power rule, but I think it's very rare."

"How many sides does your core have, Harry?" asked Fred.

"91," replied Harry plaintively. Everyone's jaws dropped.

"91?" breathed Alicia.

"91. It's especially significant because it is seven times thirteen, both highly powerful magical numbers."

"Maybe that's why You-Know-Who couldn't kill you," theorized Alicia.

"It's probably one of three factors, actually, and the other two I'm not willing to share."

"Never mind about that, Harry, how do we learn mage sight?" asked Fred impatiently.

"The first step is being able to see your own core. It's some simple meditation that will help you to commune with your magic. I suggest paying attention to where your magic is coming from."

"Thanks Harry. We'll let you know when we get that done."

"Ok. Now what were you guys doing with those cards?"

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Harry was waiting patiently for his name to be called. He was currently standing in line in the Great Hall. The Sorting was a ritual that all first years went through. The Sorting Hat, a battered, old, dirty little thing, was placed onto your head, after which it would call out a house. There were four houses at Hogwarts: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. You were sorted into your house based on your prevalent character traits.

Harry's first look at the castle had been incredible; his second with mage sight was even more impressive. The amount of magic imbibed into Hogwarts was simply astounding. He would have to spend his entire first month cataloging all of the different kinds of magic that permeated the ancient castle. But first, he had to be sorted.

"Harry Potter," Professor McGonagal's sharp voice called. Harry stepped forward, ignoring the hushed whispers sweeping through the crowd. He sat down on the wooden stool and Professor McGonagal placed the hat onto his head. However, the hat was too big for his head, so it drooped down and the brim covered his eyes. It didn't bother him, because he could see through it anyway. But, as soon as the hat touched his head, Harry felt an unknown presence examining his soul. He relaxed a little; it was probably the Sorting Hat.

_"Well, Mr. Potter, I have certainly never seen anyone like you before. You seem to have an excess of soul."_ Harry didn't recognize the voice, but he deduced that it was the Sorting Hat.

_"Excellent deduction, Mr. Potter. Now, where to put you? You have plenty of intelligence, and a wealth of knowledge. You have cunning, and you're not afraid to put in effort and hard work to reach your goals. You also have an abundance of bravery. You are quite a complicated individual, Mr. Potter."_

_"Thank you,"_ replied Harry. _"But which house are you going to sort me into?"__  
_

_"Any of them would suit you, Mr. Potter. You would excel anywhere I put you. However, I will rule out Slytherin and Hufflepuff. While you are cunning and have an excellent work ethic, I do not believe that you would do as well in those houses. That leaves either Ravenclaw or Gryffindor. Hm..."_

_"If it's all the same, I think I'd like to go to Gryffindor. Ravenclaw doesn't appeal to me as much, even if it is a house of knowledge."_

_"Yes, yes. I was thinking the same. But, are you sure about it?"_

_"Yes. I'm quite sure."_

_"Very well,"_ started the Sorting Hat silently, "better be Gryffindor!" finished the hat out loud.

* * *

**A/N: Well, that's another chapter done. Unfortunately, I won't be able to put out another chapter on Thursday; my week is going to be way too busy. I have a history test I need to take, and I'm helping out a friend on a film, so I'll be busy with that as well, so expect one out next Monday. Sorry about that, but life happens. School starts next Monday as well, so I wouldn't expect biweekly updates anymore. Oh well. I do what I can. See you guys next time.**


	8. Lux In Moene

**Chapter 8: Lux In Moene**

Harry awoke from his fortunately dreamless sleep. Evaluating his unfamiliar surroundings, he found himself to be lying in a comfortable bed with red curtains hung around the wooden upper frame of the bed. Opening the curtains, Harry started to remember where he was and why he was here. He was at Hogwarts, to learn magic. That simple fact excited him greatly. Even though he had been studying magic on his own for several years, he wanted to learn magic form his teachers.

Looking around the Gryffindor first-year dorm room, he saw three other beds. Dean Thomas, Ron Weasley, and Seamus Finnegan were still sleeping in their respective beds, and Harry didn't want to wake them. He had other things to do at the moment, like get ready or his first day of classes.

_"And take a shower!"_ Daphne reminded him shrilly. Harry put one hand next to his head in mock pain. Daphne was always on his case early in the morning, even if he got up earlier than usual, like today. It was currently 6:03. Sighing, Harry obliged Daphne's 'request' and took a shower.

After his shower, he left the Gryffindor Common Room through the hole portrait and made his way to the Great Hall. Harry had memorized the route the previous evening noting specific magical landmarks to help him find his way. Breakfast was acceptable, in Harry's opinion. The biggest thing it had going for it was variety, but Harry preferred less courses and higher quality. Even on his worst days, he could cook better than what they served. Harry knew he was being very picky, but living on his own for those four years had made him grow used to his own cooking, something he enjoyed both making and eating.

Making a note to look into the chefs that prepared the food, Harry finished up his last sausage. He looked up as he finished to see Professor McGonagal standing beside him authoritatively. Raising his left eyebrow at her, he gazed into her fierce eyes. She didn't back down from Harry's stare. Instead, she handed him his schedule. "I expect you to be on time for all your classes, Mr. Potter. Please note the times and classrooms; they will be where your classes will be held for the rest of the year. We will notify you of any changes."

"Thank you, Professor," replied Harry. "I'll make sure to be on time to everything." She left without another word, and Harry studied his schedule. He had three classes today: Transfiguration and Charms in the morning, and Double Potions in the afternoon. Of the three of them, Harry was looking forward to Potions the most. He had done a little brewing beforehand, but not much, and he was interested in what the Professor had to say about the subject.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Harry sat down attentively in his seat, his cauldron sitting in front of him, waiting for the Professor to arrive. Transfiguration had been a bit of a disappointment, in his opinion, because Harry was way beyond turning matchsticks into needles. Harry had watched those around him attempt to do it, and after they had tried it several times, Harry turned on his mage vision to watch what the other students had been doing.

To his surprise, most of the students weren't even using their magic whatsoever. Only one girl, Lilith Moon, had even started to transfigure her matchstick, and it was still very much shaped like a match. Harry had never felt more conspicuous than now, because he realized how advanced he really was. It was kind of sad, really.

Harry had decided to hold back tremendously. He focused on his control, making sure he didn't waste any extra magic on transfiguring his matchstick. When he had worked out exactly how much he needed, he transfigured his matchstick perfectly. Professor McGonagal had been impressed, and had given him fifteen points for Gryffindor. That was when he had decided not to tell Professor McGonagal exactly how far beyond the other students he was.

After he had transfigured his matchstick, he had helped out Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan. They hadn't finished their matchsticks before the class had ended, but Dean's had turned silver, while Seamus's had lost it's match head and turned into a needle hole. Harry wasn't satisfied with their progress, but they had been.

The door to the Potions class burst open and the Professor strode in. He had a long gait, and his black cloak billowed behind him. His hooked nose lay between two beetle-black eyes that had a calculating look that surveyed the room, eyeing each of the students. Harry felt a presence near his mind when he looked the Professor in the eye, but he didn't comment on it.

"There will be no foolish wand waving in this class," began the Professor quietly, but no one had to strain to hear his voice. The classroom had been silent since the Professor had entered the room. "and many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses...I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death-if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads that I usually have to teach."

Silence echoed through the classroom, as the Professor looked each student in the eyes again, and Harry felt the Professor's mental presence again, this time, much closer to reaching his thoughts. Harry put up his mental shields, and the Professor's mind back off.

"Potter," he said coldly, "what would I get if I added root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

"Combined with other ingredients, you would make a potion called the Draught of Living Death, which puts you into a slumber so deep that it resembles a dead person."

"Correct," replied the Professor, who looked like he was wincing inside at Harry's answer. "And where would I find a bezoar?"

"Bezoars are found in the stomachs of goats, Professor," Harry said curtly. He was really glad he had read ahead in his textbooks, because the Professor was quizzing him on it.

"What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

"Only the preparation. They come from the same plant, but are used differently."

"Correct. Now, why aren't you copying this down?" he snapped at the rest of the students, who were staring at Harry. Instantly, the students began to pull out quills and parchment, and scratching could be heard for the next minute. The Potions Professor, who had still not given out his name, watched the classroom closely until the final student, a Slytherin named Tracy Davis, put down her quill.

"Today we will be brewing a potion to cure boils. The instructions are written on the board." With that, all of the students got up and filed single file to the ingredients cabinet, where they each took out enough ingredients for themselves. Harry looked over the ingredients on the chalkboard, and he couldn't help but notice that three of the ingredients weren't exactly necessary. Frowning, he took the ingredients anyway, and placed them next to his cauldron. Studying the board for a few more moments, he began to prepare his ingredients.

_"Daphne, what is the purpose of the porcupine quills in the boils curing potion?"_

Harry had to wait for a minute before Daphne answered. _"Absolutely none whatsoever. In fact, I think it would make it more complicated than it should be. When does it say to add it?"_

_"Right after removing the cauldron from the fire."_

_"That's not right. If anywhere, it should be the first ingredient in the potion, because they're so volatile. Then you would add the counteractant, to prevent it from exploding. That is weird. Are you in potions class now?"_

_"Yeah, and both the book and the Professor say it's supposed to be in there, but I think I'll look over the ingredients one more time."_ Harry and Daphne discussed the values of each ingredient for about five minutes, and Harry removed the other two unnecessary ingredients, while using a different method to prepare one other. Even though every one else had already started on their potion, Harry finished first. When the Professor, whose name Harry still did not know, came over to check on his progress, Harry turned in his completed potion.

The Professor took the bottle in mild surprise. He squinted at the bottle for a few seconds, before nodding, saying, "Acceptable, Potter, acceptable."

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Fred and George turned out to be very willing students, and they learned quickly. Two weeks went past, and they had already taken a look at their core. Harry wasn't sure how long it would take someone on average, but they were still impressing him. They had tried to prank him twice, but Harry had foiled both attempts quite easily. If the twins were at all discouraged by their failures, they didn't show it. Instead, they invigorated themselves in their study of mage sight. Harry had a suspicion that the younger a person was, and the more powerful their core was, the easier it was to learn. Because wizards relied on their wands almost exclusively, they didn't have any reason to use magic the way Harry did.

Harry had also continued his lessons with Seamus and Dean. They were quickly becoming much more efficient than they had been, although they were a far cry from Harry's control. Parvati had also approached him for private lessons, and soon Harry was tutoring three other first years-Hannah Abbott, Ernie MacMillan, and Justin Finch-Fletchley. Ron still hadn't shown an interest in his tutoring, which Harry was somewhat saddened by, because he had bought that wand specifically for him to improve with, and he wasn't.

But Harry didn't let that get him down. He was having a lot of fun at Hogwarts, even if it wasn't very challenging. The only class he really had to work hard in was Herbology, and Harry had been gardening for years, so it came naturally to him. the only problem he had was disguising his abilities. Both Professors McGonagal and Flitwick were a little suspicious, but Harry actively hid his talents.

At the moment, Harry was out exploring the castle. There was so much ambient magic here, that he wasn't sure whether he would be able to explore even half of it before he finally left in seven years. Still, he was doing his best; he had already found three secret passageways out of the castle, and eleven more that led to other parts of the castle. Currently he was walking along the seventh floor. He hadn't had much time to explore this floor before, and he was certain that there was something really big here. He could feel it in his bones. Or it was reacting to his overly large magical core. Harry wasn't sure which.

Scanning the hallway with his mage vision, Harry scrutinized the hallway he was in. He was intensely studying the wall across from the tapestry of Barnabus the Barmy trying to teach trolls how to ballet, and he getting nowhere. Harry could sense a great magical buildup behind the wall, but he hadn't cracked the code to get inside. Most of the castle passwords were easy to guess, because they were sometimes literally spelled out on the enchantment. But this wall was more heavily guarded. Almost giving up from frustration, he began pacing back and forth, muttering spells under his breath. Suddenly, a door appeared.

Perplexed, Harry opened the door slowly. Inside was a long hallway, filled with doors. Stepping though the door, which he closed behind him, he opened the nearest door. Inside was a long hallway, filled with doors. Slightly confused, Harry opened the door next to it, and found the same thing. The next three doors also contained hallways filled with doors.

Sighing, Harry left the room, filing it away in the back of his brain as something to investigate later. He still wasn't sure why it had just appeared like that. It would take some sorting through to get to the bottom of that wall.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Harry officially decided that DADA was a joke. He had waited to give his judgement until he got a feel for the Professor's teaching style, but it was still all theory, and Harry had been looking forward to that. Worse still was the Professor's body odor. He kept his turban filled with garlic, and the smell was incredibly off putting. Harry's scar also kept giving him a headache, and he hadn't figured out the reason why. Today he would try and figure it out. He hadn't used mage vision in DADA yet, and he was planning to today.

Sitting down in the front of the classroom, Harry pulled out his books and laid them on his desk. Behind him, students began to file in and take their seats. They were all used to the Professor's teaching style now, and the back of the classroom was fuller than the front.

Presently, Professor Quirrel stepped out of his office and locked the door behind him. Climbing down the stairs, he took his place at the front of the classroom. He began the lecture, which was on the defense against vampires, and Harry turned on his mage vision.

What he saw shocked him. Professor Quirrel's core was eight sided, dark red in color, and it wasn't all that was in there. A black shroud enveloped Quirrel's core, fixated on a single point, leeching off of Quirrel's core. Harry recognized it immediately. Forcing himself to calm his nerves, Harry listened in to the lecture, trying to pretend that he was interested. However, it was hard to take the Defense Professor seriously when he had part of Voldemort's soul attached to him.

The biggest problem was that the black shroud was not only covering it, but literally sucking energy out of Quirrel's core. There was no way that Quirrel wouldn't have noticed, so it had to be voluntary, which meant that Quirrel was voluntarily helping Voldemort. Harry's only question was why Voldemort was possessing Quirrel. He had to have some goal in mind, and Harry had to figure it out, before he accomplished it.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Tom was sitting in his den, drinking a cup of tea when the snowy owl flew through the window. Recognizing it as Harry's owl, he reached out his hand and grabbed the letter from Hedwig as she flew in. Breaking the seal, Tom unfolded the letter and began to read.

_Dear Tom,_

_I found a disturbing black shroud covering one of the teachers at the school. I'm not what to do, and I don't know why the black shroud is there. Any ideas?_

_Harry_

The letter was short, sweet, and to the point. Tom sat back in his chair. He and Harry had developed code for when Harry would be away, so their letters would be safer. Grabbing parchment and quill, he quickly penned a response, and sealed it, attaching it to Hedwig, and letting her fly back.

_"Hermione, we have a slight complication."_ Tom waited for about half a minute. He knew she couldn't always respond right away, but it was still frustrating sometimes.

_"Tom? This is a bad time."_ Hermione's voice was irritated. Tom sighed.

_"Hermione, Voldemort is possessing one of the teachers at Hogwarts."_ That got her attention.

_"Are you sure? Did something happen to Harry?"_

_"I thought you said this was a bad time."_

_"It is, but this is more important. I can just let the quantum fluctuations completely destroy our primary warp booster so we won't be able to travel faster than an airplane."_

_"Take care of that first. Then we can talk with Susan and Ophelia."_

_"Fine. Talk to you soon."_ Hermione's voice cut off, and Tom began going through their options in his head. They would need to tread carefully. Voldemort was no joke. One mistake could get them all killed.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

_"Harry, it's happening again!"_ Harry woke with a start. Daphne was calling for help. Focusing quickly, he inserted himself into his core. The green sphere glowed in the darkness all around, and little wisps of magic were floating off like fireflies. Daphne's darker green core, which had mostly melded with Harry's, was being attacked by Voldemort's soul fragment. The black tendrils of the fractured soul were dancing around Daphne's undeveloped core, trying to overwhelm it into submission.

But Harry wouldn't allow that. He began pushing his magic toward the soul fragment, and the emerald and ruby shield emerged at the front. Harry could almost hear the fragment hissing in frustration. As Harry's counterattack struck, Voldemort's soul tried one last desperate attempt at possessing Daphne. The black tendrils converged into a pinpoint thrust, and drove itself into Daphne's soul.

Harry winced as Daphne's core writhed in response, trying to repel the intruder. Harry could only watch as Daphne struggled against the lesser but more powerful soul. Harry closed his eyes, and let his magic go, until only Daphne and Voldemort were fighting. He couldn't do anything to help her. Not with this kind of attack. Daphne would be on her own.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Daphne ducked under Voldemort's killing curse, rolling to the right, and landing underneath another wooden desk. Voldemort had already destroyed three of them, and Daphne knew it would only be a matter of time before he got her. Harry hadn't been able to help, and she was running out of options. How Voldemort had a wand was beyond her, because she didn't have one herself. Even if she had one, she wouldn't even be able to use it effectively, because she had never used a wand before.

The desk she was hiding under exploded into splinters, and several embedded themselves into her back. Daphne somersaulted forward, avoiding the second spell. Seeing a window to her left, she hurled herself through it, shattering the glass. Unfortunately, she was on the second story, so when she landed on her feet, her right foot twisted. Daphne cried out in pain. Taking a deep breath, she hobbled toward the garden, hoping to hide in one of the hedges.

Inside the garden was a large fountain with three layers and a statue of a woman pouring water out of a jug, and small koi swam in the pool. Stone pathways curved around the fountain, and the tall sunflowers surrounding the fountain swayed gently in the breeze. Carefully trimmed hedges lined the fringe of the garden, swirls carved into the edge.

Stumbling over her injured foot, Daphne entered the fountain clearing, her eyes darting about, searching for a place to hide. Seeing the sunflowers, she limped over to them and lowered herself closer to the ground, huddling together as she waited for Voldemort to find her.

It was frightening, waiting for death to come and find you, Daphne mused while she leaned to her left, taking the weight off her bad ankle. Right now she could only hope that Voldemort didn't find her. Last time, Harry had been able to fight him off, but this time, Voldemort had gotten too far in for Harry to help. She wondered what Harry would do in this situation. Probably some really impressive wandless magic that would utterly destroy Voldemort faster than you could blink. Which Daphne did. Wandless magic. That was her answer. Now she had to do it.

Concentrating like she never had before, so tried to enter her core, like Harry had been trying to teach her for over a year now. She hadn't really tried that hard, mainly because she was a lot more interested in potions. Now she was wishing that she had taken Harry's lessons more seriously. But that didn't matter now. Having never done accidental magic before, Daphne didn't know exactly where to start, so she just meditated on her surroundings, how the water trickled from the water jug; how the sunflowers swayed in the breeze; how her labored breathing slowed down; how her heart beat, pumping blood throughout her arteries.

Then she found it. The slight trace of magic she unconsciously emitted. She mentally grabbed hold of it, forcing it to become stronger and more visible. Like towing in a rope, she pulled on the string of magic, trying to make it lead her to its center. As she got closer, the string became thicker, until she was holding a rope, and she sensed that she was close. She could feel it in her core.

Focusing back on the rope, she followed it along, running her left hand along the length of the magical energy. Presently, she felt a slight humming in the air, like it was resonating with her very being. Opening her eyes, she looked up at where the rope of magic came from. A large five sided prism floated in the air, small wisps of dark green colored magic floating off the prism, and one small trickle became the rope she was holding in her hands. However, a black sword was thrust into the center of the prism, and the sword was beginning to corrupt the prism. Testing the rope's sturdiness, Daphne began hoisting herself into the air, climbing up the rope. Eyes blazing in determination, heart steadfast, and arms reaching high, she ascended the length of the rope, which was quickly becoming thicker and harder to hold onto.

However, she ignored it, and continued climbing. It took about five minutes, and Daphne knew she was running out of time. Reaching the top, she stepped out onto the prism. It was soft and solid, not bending when she put her weight on it, yet comforting, like a mother's embrace. In the center of the prism stood the black sword, black energy swirling around it. Daphne walked up to the sword, and grasped it by the hilt. Taking a deep breath, she heaved. The sword writhed in her hands, trying to escape her grip and penetrate the weakened core further.

But Daphne wouldn't let it. Gripping the hilt harder, she heaved again, and she felt the sword begin to give way. One last time, she heaved, and the sword came loose, clattering onto the prism's top. Daphne breathed heavily. Pulling out the sword had taken a lot out of her, not that she would care to admit it.

The sword still lay beside her. It hadn't moved in a while, and Daphne had the sneaking suspicion that if she left it unsupervised, it would begin attacking her again. Her legs splayed out, Daphne reached for the sword, taking it in both hands. The sword was inlayed with runic inscriptions that Daphne had no hope of ever reading, and the double grooved blade tapped on the prism's top once or twice while Daphne was inspecting it.

Suddenly, Daphne had an idea. She pulled herself onto her feet, taking the sword with her to the edge of the prism. Kneeling down, she poked the side of the prism with her finger, and magic began to flow forth. Holding the sword in both hands, she ran it under the stream of magic.

The sword struggled in her hands, trying to escape her grasp, but Daphne wouldn't let go. Steadily, she held the sword under the water-like magic until the sword stopped trying to resist. Removing it from the magic flow, she plugged the hole with her finger, and it instantly sealed up. Daphne pressed her hand against the side of the prism, and a handle appeared. Grasping it in her delicate fingers, she pulled it out, revealing an elongated box. Meticulously, Daphne checked over the sword one last time. Satisfied, she gently placed the sword in the box, and slid it closed. The handle disappeared from view, and Daphne looked around.

Blackness surrounded her. The only light she had was from the prism, and the rope hanging down from the prism. Clambering over the edge, she descended down the rope, and walked back toward where she had come from.

Daphne opened her eyes, her mission completed. She had driven away the sword. Standing, she winced as she put weight on her broken ankle. Slowly, she emerged from the sunflowers, walking out into the open. Voldemort's body lay on the other side of the fountain, sprawled on the stone pathway. Smiling to herself, Daphne walked over to his body to make sure he was dead.

When she leaned down, a hand clenched around her throat. Grinning, Voldemort stood, dangling Daphne in the air, as she struggled to breathe.

* * *

**A/N: Hello again, everyone. I'm back. School started today. Forgot to bring my notebook. Next Monday, Daphne chokes to death. Yay! Or maybe she doesn't. Who knows? Oh, I'm supposed to? What?**

**This author's note is being terminated on grounds of extreme silliness. We apologize for letting you have to read that. We shall have to renegotiate our contract with him. He's been taking liberties again.**


	9. Animae Dominor

**Chapter 9: Animae Dominor**

Daphne struggled wildly, trying to break out of the elongated cold fingers of Voldemort that were grasped tightly around her neck, choking her. Her face white from lack of air; her eyes flashing around, frightened; her hands at her neck, trying, trying to break free. Desperately, she dug her fingernails into Voldemort's pale forearms, drawing blood. He just smirked down at her, dominance gleaming in his eyes. Her life began flashing before her eyes, showing her good and bad, happy and sad, annoyed and mad.

She remembered her little sister, and how she used to play with her, the dollhouses their dolls inhabited, the way Astoria's long blonde hair draped over her shoulder, her warm, genuine, smile. She remembered her father's death, how it had broken her mother, how cold and indifferent she had become. She remembered when Harry had first woken her up, how she had felt; what she had seen; what she had smelled; what she had heard. She remembered the conversations she'd had with him; she remembered the memories of his she'd seen; she remembered his accomplishments, his ambitions, his dreams.

Fire lit in her eyes, and the world reacted around her.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Harry was beyond desperate. He had thought that Daphne had stopped him when Voldemort's soul had been trapped, but he had been wrong; that was only a representation, not actuality. Then it struck him. What had been representation could be actuality. Now he just had to tell Daphne.

Closing his eyes again, he found his core, where Daphne and Voldemort's souls were doing battle. Voldemort's was still stabbed into the center of Daphne's, and there was a black veil shielding Daphne from Harry's help. At least, his magical assistance.

Running through the black shroud, Harry put his hand's on Daphne's core, and closing his eyes, he began chanting. _"Gadewch i mi mynediad i mewn i'w sanctum; caniatáu fy cymorth i gael gwared ar eich gelyn, gadewch i mi arwain eich gwybodaeth i fuddugoliaeth."_

Harry reacted with Daphne's core, and he turned into bright emerald green light.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

_"Tanio, am y gwynt yn galw. Llosgi, ar gyfer yr awyr yn anadlu. Fflamau, yn codi i fyny ac yn llosgi, er y gwynt yn galw."_ Fire that had laid dormant in Daphne's soul had been loosed. Flames, burning white hot and deathly cold, erupted from Voldemort's robes; burning; eating; devouring. Screaming, emerald flames engulfed Voldemort, and he let go of Daphne's neck, and she took several deep breaths, panting on the ground, as Voldemort burned.

Then the flames disappeared; Voldemort's ragged breath and tattered body were slowly disintegrating. But Daphne knew that he could still come back as long as he was free inside Harry's soul. Gathering up her magic, she spoke one word. _"Selwch"_

Dark green magic surrounded Voldemort, forming a cage, bars crisscrossing until Voldemort was out of sight, bound into a cage of magic. Daphne collapsed onto the garden's stone pathway.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Harry watched as Daphne sealed Voldemort's soul within hers, enveloping it completely, preventing its escape. Smiling in relief, Harry brought himself out of his trance, only to find all three of his roommates staring at him fearfully.

"What was that, mate?" asked Ron pointedly.

_"Oh, bugger,"_ thought Harry.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Convincing his classmates that he wasn't experiencing severe trauma or having a magical breakdown had taken the better part of an hour. Apparently, while he had been helping Daphne fend off Voldemort, Harry had been shuddering violently, saliva drooling out of his mouth, and moaning. The three of them had just been about to go and get Professor McGonagal.

Convincing the three of them not to go and tell anyone else about this took another fifteen minutes, but Harry eventually got them to agree. He didn't need a Professor meddling in things they didn't know about. The only other person in the castle who would sympathize with Harry completely was Dumbledore, and Harry didn't want to be seen as the Headmaster's pet.

Sighing, Harry took another bite of his lasagna that he had prepared for himself in the kitchens, grinning as the tasty noodles, cheese, and sauce entered his mouth. Ever since he had found the kitchens on the third day, he had been preparing his meals for himself. It had taken a bit of explaining to get the House-Elves to agree to let him cook, but he tried looking at it from their perspective. So he had said that he needed to do his own work, and preparing his own meals was part of that. Afterwards, the elves had been happy to let him cook in the kitchens whenever, even if it was a midnight snack.

Sneaking around at night was ridiculously easy because of Harry's invisibility cloak. Harry had thoroughly analyzed the cloak's invisibility mechanism, and modified it slightly, so that only a person keyed into the cloak could use it. Otherwise, it was just a regular cloak. Harry had also added an anti-summoning jinx, so that someone expecting an invisibility cloak couldn't just summon it off of him. It was complex enchanting; Harry had worked hard for three months fixing it to his liking. He had learned a lot about invisibility, and could probably enchant another cloak similar to it in a month, for the right price. It also would probably be keyed into Harry's core so that he could see completely through it, even if he didn't tell the customer that.

Finishing the last of his lasagna, Harry stood up from the kitchen counter, placing his dirty dishes next to the sink, where the House-Elves would take care of them in the morning. Pushing open the kitchen door, Harry made his way back to the Gryffindor common room, invisibly, and with a silencing charm under his feet. It certainly helped to be cautious.

Fortunately, the trip back to the common room was uneventful, and Harry slipped back into his bed quietly, careful not to wake the other boys. He sat in his bed for a minute thinking just what he'd be doing tomorrow. He was going to try and figure out what exactly was going on with the wall across from the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. And nothing was going to stop him.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

"Harry! Stop!" Harry ignored the voice and kept striding through the hallway, pushing his way through the other students milling outside the charms classroom.

"Harry!" persisted the voice, which Harry now recognized to be a burly fifth year named Oliver Wood.

"What?" Harry pivoted around, looking Wood in the eyes.

"I was wondering if I could have you try out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team," explained Wood.

"Why?" asked Harry, now slightly curious.

"Because the tryouts were horrid. We still don't have a seeker who can play to my satisfaction, and I think you might be our lucky break."

"All right, I'll meet you down by the Quidditch field after supper, ok?"

"Sounds good, Harry. I'll see you there," Wood agreed, running off excitedly. Harry briefly wondered if someone else would interrupt him again, because this was the third time he'd been stopped for some odd reason or other. He had just gotten up the final flight of stairs when he encountered Draco Malfoy. Malfoy had tried to 'befriend' him several times, but Harry had turned him down every time. If he was going to try and 'befriend' him again, then Malfoy would likely be in he hospital wing in a few minutes.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Harry asked, glaring at him slightly, after his grunts Crabbe and Goyle had blocked his exit to the seventh floor corridor.

"Since you've been so disrespectful to the Malfoy family, even after I'd offered our services several times, I decided you needed to learn a lesson." Malfoy sneered, his upper lip drawing back spitefully.

"Alright, I've learned that Malfoy's are idiots that need to be put down. Now let me go on my way." Harry tried to move past the two lumbering Slytherins, but they pushed him back, nearly sending Harry toppling head over heels down the stairs. It was only by using some wandless magic that Harry stabilized himself.

"Nice try, Potter. Now face me," he ordered pulling out his wand and pointing it at Harry. Harry rolled his eyes, and Malfoy dropped to the ground unconscious. Crabbe and Goyle's eyes widened, and they stepped to the side, hoping that Harry would let them go. It was all for naught. Harry smirked, and Malfoy's cronies fell to the floor, joining their 'boss'. Considering for a moment, Harry pulled out his specially inked pen, the same one he had used to pay back Parvati with (so far, the dragon and turtle drawing on her face had only livened up since she had arrived at school. She had been picked on until Harry had told people to stop, for which she had thanked him gratefully for. Still, the drawing hadn't come off yet, and was resisting all efforts to remove it. Even Dumbledore had been stumped; and had given up trying to stop it when he heard the Harry had designed the ink) and wrote one word across Malfoy's face in bright red marker.

Putting his pen back in his pocket, he finally arrived at the seventh floor corridor. Standing in front of the empty wall, he focused, drawing forth as much magic as he could to evaluate the wall. His eyes opened, bursting with magic, green sparks flying out from his irises. The wall he was looking at was literally alive with magic. Harry hadn't been paying much attention to the magic itself; he had been trying to figure out what the password was. Now, Harry was thinking that the room didn't have a password. Or, at least, a specific one.

Pacing back and forth like he had last time, he began thinking about what he needed to do to get into the room. _I need a door to get in the room...I need a door to get in the room...I need a door to get in the room._ A plain wooden door appeared on the wall, and Harry grasped the handle conspicuously. Turning it, he pushed the door open.

Inside was the same hallway he had found last time. Frustrated, Harry left the room. He didn't need to waste any more time on that ridiculous room.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Daphne awoke slowly, her eyes fluttering open. She was in the garden, lying next to the fountain. The sun was in the east, rising into the early morning sky. Daphne sat up, shivering. She had evidently lain out in the garden overnight. The cool morning breeze rustled through her blonde hair, and her damp robes clung tightly to her skin. Standing unsteadily, Daphne hobbled back toward the house, trying to keep her weight off of her injured ankle. When she entered the house, Daphne sank into one of the armchairs, and fell asleep comfortably.

_"Daphne, wake up."_ Harry's voice was lilting, and drew Daphne out of her nap.

_"Yes, what?"_ she asked after a couple of seconds spent straightening her hair and robes.

_"I was just wondering how you felt."_

_"I feel absolutely horrible,"_ replied Daphne irritably. Her ankle hurt, her robes were still damp, her neck felt stiff, and her muscles ached.

_"I thought so. You should get that ankle looked at," _Harry commented.

_"By whom?"_

_"Um, I...don't...know. Maybe I'll go and get you a healer."_

_"Don't. I'll fix it up myself."_

_"How?"_

_"With a bandage. How else?"_

_"Maybe your magic?"_

_"I don't know how to use my magic,"_ snapped Daphne.

_"Oh? Then what were you doing yester-afternoon? Was that just coincidence? I don't really think so."_

_"That was just..."_

_"Just, what?"_ Daphne blushed.

_"Well, I don't know how to use healing magic."_

_"That's the easiest and hardest kind. All you have to do is let your magic flow through your body and find the injuries, and let it fix it. It might be a little painful, but it will heal a lot faster."_

_"I'll try," _Daphne promised.

_"Only do or do not do. There is no try."_

_"Harry."_

_"Daphne."_

_"Fine. I'll 'do' it. Now leave me alone."_ Harry retreated from his inner soul, and Daphne began concentrating. Ten minutes later, she was still trying to get into her core room, but she wasn't having any success.

_"You're trying too hard. Just let it flow naturally," _commented Harry.

_"I thought I told you to leave me alone,"_ replied Daphne coolly.

_"I did. You just didn't specify how long I was to leave you alone. I figured it was about seven minutes."_

_"Fine. Leave me alone unless I call you or it happens to be after noon. Ok?"_

_"Alright. See you later."_ Daphne shook her head and started focusing again on her magic. Remembering the feeling she had felt the last time, she tried to isolate a strand of magic. Pulling on that strand, she made her way to her core. The prism of green magic shone brightly in the darkened area, and Daphne could see seven strands of magic connected to her core.

Taking Harry's advise, Daphne just watched how her magic interacted in its environment, not forcing or using it in any way. Now that she had a foothold, Daphne emerged from her meditative state, keeping the feel of her magic in mind, and concentrated on her ankle. All she did was suggest that her magic heal her ankle, and immediately, she felt bones grinding as her magic rearranged and fixed her foot.

Smiling happily at her success, Daphne sat back in her chair, suddenly exhausted from her effort. Still, it was a success, and Daphne was pleased. Now all she had to do was to get her magic to come up on command.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Fred glanced down at his map. The Marauder's Map was unfolded in his hand, showing every person's name and their location. Fred was particularly interested in one boy—Harry Potter. He was currently standing in an abandoned classroom where he was going to meet the twins for their next tutoring session.

"It's all clear; let's head in." George scampered around the corner, Fred close behind him. They reached the next intersection, and the twins flattened against the wall.

"Ready Fred?" asked George. Fred nodded, and they burst into the classroom, wands out and at the ready. Harry was standing with his back to them, and both the twins took this to their advantage.

"Stupefy!" they cried in unison, a red bolt of light shooting from each of their wands. At the last possible moment, Harry turned and caught one bolt in each hand. Holding the two balls of stunning energy, one in each hand, the red light casting a bloodthirsty look on his face, Harry threw the balls of energy back at the twins so fast they didn't have time to dodge. Fortunately, the twins were fast enough with the shield charm, and the two balls of energy dissipated against their shields.

"Very good reaction time, boys," said Harry congratulatorily. "Now let's see how far you've managed to come in your training. Access your core!"

Both redheads closed their eyes and entered their cores. It took only about ten seconds. "Alright," began Harry, "you've got the first part down. Now, you need to start using that core without your wands. Levitate the over to me."

Straining in concentration, Fred and George both tried to levitate their wands over to Harry. Fred's lifted off his hand feebly, but George's just twitched, and didn't move. "Ok, what did you do wrong?" asked Harry.

"I was trying too hard," admitted George.

"I wasn't trying hard enough," admitted Fred.

"Correct. Try again." This time, George's wand left his hand and started floating toward Harry, and Fred's was close behind George's. About twenty seconds later, Harry grabbed them deftly from the air. "Alright, class dismissed. Homework—be able to levitate yourselves across a room wandlessly."

The twins left the room, and Fred checked the Marauder's Map again. "George, you remember that Pettigrew character we kept seeing on the map with Percy?"

"Yeah," replied George, "he never really left Percy's side; why do you ask?"

"Because I just spotted him, and he's hanging around Ron now."

"Huh, that's weird," commented George.

"So is the fact that we've never even seen Pettigrew," added Fred.

"I wonder why the map keeps showing Pettigrew then. I mean, it's not as if he's..." George trailed off.

"He's what?" asked Fred.

"Maybe he's—no, he couldn't be him—but what if...?"

"What if what?" asked Fred, getting impatient.

"I was thinking that maybe, just maybe, and this is going really far out there—"

"Get to the point," snapped Fred.

"Alright, I was just theorizing that maybe Pettigrew was Scabbers," said George. Fred gaped at his twin.

"That's just—wow," said Fred.

"I told you it was out there," reminded George.

"Let's get going now. Ron doesn't have another class until 2:30. If we hurry, we can check before that," said Fred.

"After you, dear brother," said George.

"Righty-O," replied Fred. The two of them ran down the hallway, not noticing that Harry had been listening to their conversation, hidden under his invisibility cloak.

* * *

**A/N: Well, this update was harder to write than some of the other chapters, and I think that's because I got caught up in other ideas again. It always takes away from the stuff you are already writing; but I can't help my muse checking in at a different terminal. Huh, that's a surprisingly good metaphor. I might check back for a one-shot some time soon, but no promises. Anyway, sorry about the lateness of the chapter as well. I blame Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters.**


	10. Murum Invenio

**Chapter 10: Murum Invenio**

"Potter, I'll have you expelled for this!" Harry stopped walking down the hallway and faced Professor Snape. He'd finally learned his name yesterday from Percy Weasley; he'd asked him about it at dinner.

"What did I do that you believe warrants my expulsion, Professor?" asked Harry. He wasn't sure yet, but he thought it might have been what had happened to Draco the previous day.

"You attacked another student, and wrote a derogatory word across his face," sneered Snape.

"Do you have any witnesses?"

"I have all the evidence I need. We're going to see the Headmaster." Harry waved to Parvati and Padma, who had been accompanying him, and followed the greasy haired Professor to the Headmaster's office. Harry had been there once before, when he had asked Professor Dumbledore if he could see his office, because of all the magical items he had in there. Professor Dumbledore had obliged, and Harry met Fawkes for the first time.

Fawkes was one of the most interesting beings Harry had ever met. The stunningly beautiful plumage of the fiery bird had been even more intense under mage vision. The brilliant red and gold colors surrounding the phoenix's aura had shown Harry how powerful the phoenix really was. Afterwards, Harry had resolved never to get on a phoenix's bad side.

"Dumbledore, the boy must be expelled! He's gone too far!" Snape yelled at the aged Headmaster when he burst through the door.

"Oh, and what is it that Harry has done?" the Headmaster asked, his eyes twinkling brightly.

"He attacked three of my students and wrote derogatory comments on their faces!"

"And did you get Harry's side of the story? I believe that he might have a different opinion on what happened."

"That's correct, Headmaster. I was walking up to the seventh floor corridor when Draco Malfoy and his two goons, Crabbe and Goyle, blocked my way, saying that as I had refused their friendship, I was now an enemy and he was going to teach me a lesson. At this point, Malfoy tried to attack me, but, unexpectedly, fell forward unconscious, and his two buddies joined him moments later. I didn't see who or what could have knocked them out."

"He's lying!" shouted Snape.

"I have not finished my story. After they fell to the ground, I saw red ink appear on Malfoy's face, writing the word 'Mudblood' across his face. I looked around for a Professor, but, seeing none, I went on my way. I had forgotten it had happened until Professor Snape reminded me."

"That is what happened?" asked Professor Dumbledore.

"Yes, sir," confirmed Harry.

"Then it is clear that Harry didn't have a hand in the event that followed. Therefore, he won't be expelled. Harry, you are free to go."

"Thank you, Professor Dumbledore. I will see you in class, Professor Snape." Harry nodded politely to the both of them, and left. As he stepped down the stairs, he heard Snape snap and start shouting something to Dumbledore.

When he entered the hallway where Dumbledore's office lay, he saw the Patil twins waiting for him. "How'd it go?" asked Padma worriedly as the twins fell into step with Harry.

"I'm not expelled, if that's what you're asking," replied Harry.

"What did you do that made Snape so angry like that?" asked Parvati.

"He claimed that I attacked Malfoy and wrote 'Mudblood' over his face in red ink," replied Harry.

"And did you?"

"I retaliated after Malfoy attacked me first, then, so that he wouldn't try something like that again, I humiliated him."

"What did Dumbledore say about that?"

"Well, I didn't tell him that straight out like that," said Harry.

"Then what did you tell him?" asked Padma, perplexed.

"I just left out certain details, like that I was the one who wrote Mudblood on Malfoy's face, and that I was the one who made him fall unconscious."

"Sneaky; I like it."

"Yeah, well, Snape wasn't too happy about it. He was shouting in Dumbledore's office last I heard him. I think Snape's just out to get me, but I'm not sure why. Maybe it has something to do with my father…"

"That's a possibility. Do you know much about your father?" asked Padma.

"No, other than he was in Gryffindor, married my mother, and they went into hiding after I was born."

"Hmm, that's not much to go on, but it's a start. Maybe you could ask some of the Professors if they knew them," suggested Padma.

"That's a great idea, Padma, thanks!" Harry took off running and the twins watched him as he vacated the hallway.

"He's so oblivious, isn't he?" said Parvati.

"We'll have to wait until he's older," agreed Padma.

"Still, we can get as close as we can now, so that no other girl will dare to try and steal him away from us."

"Definitely."

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

"Hey, Ron, do you have Scabbers on you?" asked Fred.

"Yeah. What do you want with him?" replied Ron.

"Well, I heard there was a disease that was going around, infecting all the rats in this area, and it could get deadly. I just wanted to take him down there for you, so you didn't have to go to the trouble."

"Thanks, Fred."

"I'm George."

"George, then."

"Nope, Fred."

"Fred."

"Can't you tell? I'm George!"

"George, stop it, you're confusing me!" cried Ron.

"George!" called Fred up the stairs. "Stop confusing Ron! I'll hit you if you don't."

"Fred?" asked Ron hesitantly.

"Maybe, maybe not," replied Fred.

"Can you leave?"

"Sure. If you'd only asked sooner…" Ron sighed in frustration, and Fred left with Scabbers in hand.

"Did you get him?" asked George as he joined him on their way to their abandoned classroom, where they had set up a potions lab and a development table for their prank products.

"Yeah, it was really easy. Did you look up that spell we needed?"

"Yup, it was in one of the more obscure transfiguration books in the library."

"Great. Did you take a look at the map?"

"Well, maybe you had better take a look yourself," suggested George.

"All right. Let's see here…Gred Weasley, Forge Weasley, and one Peter Pettigrew." As soon as Fred said that, Scabbers began wriggling out of Fred's hand.

"Homorpho!" George shouted, pointing his wand at the rat. Fred followed suit, and the rat began turning back into a man.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Fred used the body-bind curse on the rat-like man, and he straightened, and fell to the ground like a plank.

"Yup, it's confirmed. We have one Peter Pettigrew. Let's go get McGonagall."

"You go," said George. "I'll stay here with him so he doesn't escape."

"See you in a bit." Fred ran off, looking for McGonagall's office.

"Professor McGonagall," he shouted, bursting into her office.

"Mr. Weasley," she said seriously as she looked up from the paper she was grading, "I hope this is a relevant interruption. I have work to do."

"Professor, Ron's rat just turned into a man, and George has him in a body-bind in one of the other classrooms."

"You mean to say he was an animagus?" asked Professor McGonagall abruptly.

"Yes, Professor. I can show you where he is."

"Very well, Mr. Weasley, you can lead the way." Fred led Professor McGonagall to their classroom, where George and Pettigrew were.

"Here he is, Professor. I don't know who he is, but if he spent the last twelve years in our house, then I want to know who he is. George, did you find anything on him?"

"Yeah, two wands and a Dark Mark." Professor McGonagall inhaled sharply, and Fred gasped.

"I can go and get Dumbledore," volunteered Fred.

"Please do, Mr. Weasley. I fear we may have something difficult on our hands."

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Professor Dumbledore was having a busy day. First, Severus had come in, complaining about something that Harry had supposedly done, and demanded that he be expelled. Since there was no evidence that Harry had done anything wrong, Dumbledore let him go free without any point loss or detentions.

Now Fred Weasley was in here, telling him that they had found a Death Eater inside the castle. He had to move quickly, else Voldemort acting through Quirrel would collect his servant and try to steal the stone. He had to prevent Voldemort from actually getting the stone, and having a servant on hand would make it that much easier.

Following the young Weasley twin to where his brother was, he found Minerva and George waiting for him. Even though he hadn't seen the man in ten years, he still recognized him easily. "Hello, Peter. Fancy meeting you here."

"Dumbledore—thank goodness," said Minerva. "Mr. Weasley here came to me not fifteen minutes ago to report that their family rat was actually an animagus in hiding. Imagine my surprise to find that it was Pettigrew."

"Indeed. Though it makes you wonder why Sirius Black was after him in the first place. If Sirius was actually with Voldemort, then why chase after a comrade?"

"Well, perhaps he thought that Pettigrew had betrayed You-Know—"

"Voldemort, Minerva," corrected Dumbledore.

"Fine, Voldemort—and tried to kill him."

"Or, maybe Sirius was the decoy. He may not have actually been the secret keeper," suggested Dumbledore.

"Who are you talking about, Professor?" asked George.

"Sirius Black—supposedly he was the secret keeper for the Potters, holding the secret to their location, and he was also thrown into Azkaban for murdering twelve muggles and Peter Pettigrew. I think this ruling may have to be challenged since Peter is indeed alive. Minerva, would you fetch Severus please. I think some veritaserum will be needed."

She nodded and headed off towards the dungeons. "I would like to thank both of you," began Dumbledore, "for uncovering Peter. I fear the things he could have done, if allowed to remain in the castle for longer. But tell me, how did it happen?"

The twins looked at each other, and Fred nodded slowly. "Well," started Fred, "it all starts back in our first year, when we nicked a piece of parchment from Filch's office. Turns out, it was a map, showing the name and location of everyone in the castle. We discovered Pettigrew the first time we looked at it. He was hanging out in the third year dorms, so we ignored him, thinking he was a student. He also spent a lot of time with Percy—that was odd, but we dismissed it.

"It was when we saw Pettigrew with Ron that George guessed that Pettigrew was actually Scabbers. We looked up the Homorphus charm, and nabbed Scabbers. When the charm worked, I ran off and got Professor McGonagall, and she told me to get you. Then I told you that there was a Death Eater in the castle, and I led you to where Pettigrew and George were. You—"

"I am quite aware of what happens next. I ask you to tell me your story, and you start telling me how you nicked a piece of parchment from Filch's office," said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling.

"Aw, you spoiled it," complained Fred light-heartedly.

"Well, I suppose you have other stuff to keep you busy, so I won't keep you here. However, my door is always open if you need it."

"Thank you, Professor," said George, and the two of the headed out of the room. Minerva returned with Severus moments later, and the interrogation of Peter began.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

_"Hermione, I haven't ever heard of any witch or wizard ever who only used wandless magic. Even if you're the first, then I expect that no one else will hear about it," _said Susan.

_"So? Just because I can't actually get the achievement doesn't mean I should slack off in my magical training,"_ retorted Hermione.

_"I don't have a wand!"_ shouted Susan.

_"Neither do I, but at least I'm trying to do something!" _Hermione shouted back.

_"Girls, we don't need to fight like boys,"_ interrupted Ophelia.

_"Shut up!"_ yelled both of them at Ophelia.

_"You don't have to get so angry about it,"_ said Ophelia, turning away. _"I suppose this means you don't want to go for another spin on the Phoenix. I guess I'll take it out myself."_

_"Oh no you don't!__"_ cried Hermione. _"There are a lot of delicate instruments aboard. I can't let you ruin them."_

_"You can't even steer it correctly. I won't let you fly it," _declared Susan.

_"I'll let you back on my ship if you apologize to each other. Otherwise I'm taking it out for a spin, with lots of uncontrolled turns and dangerous maneuvers."_ Ophelia was great at compromises.

_"Fine. I'm sorry."_

_"I'm sorry too. Let's get this baby flying!"_ Susan shouted excitedly. Ophelia allowed herself a smirk as they boarded the ship. They were so easy to redirect. If only they didn't get into so many fights. It was probably why Ophelia was the Captain.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Harry was following Professor Quirrel. Well, he was only doing it because Dumbledore was sorting things out at the Ministry. Apparently, his godfather had been locked up innocently, and the Weasley twins had just caught the framer. Sirius Black was now out of Azkaban and in rehab. Dumbledore was trying to arrange it so that Sirius could take care of him during the summers.

Harry had yet to meet his godfather, but he and his father had been best friends, so Harry knew that he couldn't be a bad guy. All he had to do now was corner Quirrel. After looking at him under mage vision, Harry had determined that Quirrel was being possessed, and that wasn't a good thing. Especially since Voldemort was the one doing the possessing. It had taken a moment for Harry to recognize the signature of the possessor, but once he had, he knew he would be tailing him all day.

They were now at the third floor corridor, and Quirrel was opening the locked door that kept the Cerberus inside. Harry had gone to Dumbledore earlier in the month, asking what exactly was behind the door. When Dumbledore said it was a Cerberus, Harry left it alone. He had only read one book where Cerberus' were mentioned, and they were extremely vicious and had super high tempers.

Hopefully, Quirrel had a plan, because there was no way Harry would be able to get past that thing with its superior sense of smell. Then Harry heard the sound of music, and snoring. A click, and then Harry entered. Standing to the side was an enchanted harp, plucking out a soothing melody. Below the Cerberus's paws was a trapdoor, and Harry knew that was where he had to go. Waiting for a few minutes until Harry was reasonably sure that Quirrel wouldn't be around to catch him if he followed. Disillusioning himself, Harry slipped under the trapdoor and fell onto the soft, squishy plant that was below him.

Harry looked around to see where he was, and found himself to be at the end of a hallway leading towards some goal in front of him. He tried to stand, but found that the plant was wrapped around his legs, crawling up them like vines. Harry cast a simple lumos maxima and the plant retreated from Harry's legs instantly. Satisfied with how he had dealt with the unknown plant, Harry crept forward, until he reached another room where he saw a horde of glittering keys flying about the room. Harry's rather good vision picked up on one particular key whose wings were bent and it wasn't flying straight. Harry tried summoning it to him, but when that didn't work, Harry activated his mage vision to take a look at the charm.

Professor Flitwick had done the enchanting, and Harry merely needed to overwhelm it. Drawing upon his vast reserves of magic, Harry directed it at the key, shattering the enchantments on it, and it fell toward the ground, landing neatly in Harry's hand. Harry put the key in the matching lock on the door and turned it. The lock clicked and the door swung open. Grinning, Harry continued down the hallway, until he reached a giant chessboard, each side filled with lifelike chess pieces. Guessing that they he would most likely have to try to play his way across the board, Harry masked his magical signature until it was nonexistent. Boldly stepping across the board, Harry made it past the pieces inconspicuously.

The next protection was a large troll. It was already unconscious, so Harry ignored it, heading into the next room. There was a table in the center of the room, and on it were seven potions in bottles sitting in a row. A sheet of parchment lay next to the potions, and Harry unfolded it carefully. There were four clues on how to pass through the flames, but Harry decided to ignore it, casting a powerful flame-freezing charm over himself, and walked through.

There was one more passageway leading downward, and Harry theorized that he was now underground someways, unless there was an expansion charm that he didn't see. Which there wasn't. Harry wasn't sure if there would be any more traps, but he did know that Quirrel was still further down the passageway. Then, as Harry neared a set of pillars, he heard cackling laughter. His blood ran cold; he had heard from Daphne how Voldemort's laugh had sounded—evil, twisted, and cold. This laughter had all the same qualities, and Harry was dreading what he might see.

Peering around the pillar, Harry saw Quirrel standing over an open disillusioned trunk, holding a red stone in his hand. For whatever reason, Voldemort wanted that stone, so Harry was determined to stop him. Taking a deep breath, he stepped out from behind the pillar. "Hello, Professor Quirrel, fancy meeting you here."

"Mr. Potter, you a-a-are ou-o-out of b-b-bounds! T-twenty p-p-points from G-g-gryffindor."

"Actually, I have permission from the headmaster to be here. He asked me to keep an eye out for people who might want the stone—like, say, Voldemort?"

Then Quirrel began laughing again. "Oh, so you figured it out, Potter. Very clever of you. I thought I had hid myself from the old fool well enough, but it appears that I am found out by a measly first year."

"Not just any old measly first year," Harry corrected. "You were found out by Harry Potter. Now, hand me the stone and perhaps I won't go and tell Dumbledore you were down here."

"You misunderstand, Potter, what I am trying to achieve. I won't need the stone for long; once I'm done using it, I'll put it back where I found it."

"I think we've hit a little snag," said Harry sadly.

"And that is?" asked Quirrel.

"You seem to think you have the real stone. The thing you have in you hand is a fake."

"Impossible! Why would he go to all the trouble just to protect it if it's a fake?"

"Think for a moment. If I wasn't sure whether or not Voldemort was really dead, then I would place something he thought he would really want in a 'secure' location, and then trap him there so he couldn't leave."

"It's a trap!" exclaimed Quirrel. "I'm sorry master, I've failed you."

"No matter," wheezed a voice from the back of Quirrel's head, inside the turban. "We shall simply move on. No sense in staying where we can't gain anything. Well, we might as well kill the boy; he can't be much trouble."

"Sorry, Voldemort, I don't think you'll do that. If you kill me here, you'll simply expose yourself to Dumbledore. Especially since I have an alarm that will go off every twelve hours that alerts Dumbledore that the fake has been stolen. If you kill me, it'll go off in three hours, and Dumbledore will know that you're behind it. I won't tell Dumbledore or any of the staff that you were here if you let me live. I'll even swear a wizard's oath not to tell a single soul."

"Master, the boy has a point, and if he really has an alarm like that, then you'll be revealed. We can't have that."

"I can assure you that an alarm will go off in three hours unless I stop it."

"Then give me your oath not to tell a single soul."

"I, Harry James Potter, swear a wizard's oath not to tell a single soul that Quirrel was trying to retrieve the stone."

"Good. I shall see you in class, Potter." Quirrel placed the stone back in the disillusioned chest

"Later." Quirrel walked up the steps and out of sight. Harry sat down and breathed a sigh of relief. He had been bluffing for most of their talk, and Quirrel had lapped it up like a dog. Harry didn't even know what the stone was. Quirrel had not even checked Harry's oath for loopholes, and there were two big ones. Luckily, Voldemort himself hadn't noticed, so Harry had a bit of a break there. Now Harry just had to get back up to the main levels of Hogwarts.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Tom opened the next letter from Harry curiously. He hadn't expected another one for another week yet. Still, a letter from Harry was a letter from Harry, so Tom opened it up. It was very short, but imperatively important.

_Tom,_

_Voldemort is possessing Quirrel, and he just tried to break into the third floor corridor that's forbidden. I managed to convince him to leave, but I had to swear an oath not to reveal certain things. Luckily, he didn't check the wording, so I'm still able to tell you this. Thanks for your help._

_Harry_

Well, now that Voldemort had revealed himself somewhat, it was time to get to work. After all, if Tom was going to change, he needed to start somewhere.

* * *

**A/N: That's another chapter down. I had come up with a plan that would let me finish the fic in another few chapters, but then I got another idea, and that will work much better. I'm so lucky to have a brain like I have. Anyway, I'll be seeing you guys next Monday, so, TTFA, ta ta for now!**


	11. Angusta Ultio

**Chapter 11: Angusta Ultio**

"Harry, I would like to introduce you to your godfather, Sirius Black," said Dumbledore. "Sirius, this is Harry."

Sirius Black walked up to Harry and threw his arms around him. Harry hugged him back hesitantly, but hugged him all the same. "Harry," said Sirius after breaking the hug, "I would like to apologize to you."

"Why?" asked Harry.

"Because I went after the rat, instead of protecting you."

"It's no big deal," replied Harry.

"No, it is," said Sirius. "I'm your godfather. I should have focused on my godfatherly duties before running off to get the rat."

"Perhaps you should stop dwelling in the past and focus on said godfatherly duties now?" suggested Dumbledore. "I'm sure Harry would love to live with you."

"Sure," replied Harry. "As long as I can cook my own meals. I've discovered that only my own cooking can satisfy me."

"I don't mind, as long as I can try some of your food," barked Sirius. The two walked out of Dumbledore's office, Sirius laughing at something Harry said. Dumbledore smiled. Harry was in better hands now.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

"So, Harry, who have you been living with?" asked Sirius as they sat down under a walnut tree, near the black lake.

"I've actually been living on my own, sort of," replied Harry. "There's an adult living nearby that checks on me every once and a while, but otherwise I was pretty much on my own. Dumbledore got me a lot of books, and I spent a lot of time reading and practicing magic."

"What kinds of magic did you practice?" asked Sirius.

"Transfiguration, and Charms, mostly, but I did some Potions work, too. Lucky I practiced that, too. 'Professor' Snape grinds on me constantly, trying to get me to mess up."

"Snape's a professor?" Sirius exclaimed.

"You know him?"

"Did I ever. We were enemies in school. He's done some stuff that's I will never forgive."

"Well I don't like him either. He constantly takes away points from me for the silliest of reasons—like breathing too loudly when I'm making my potions or stirring my potion too sloppily. It's like he's out to get me or something. I wonder why?"

"He's taking points off you unnecessarily, huh? I think I might have to pay him a visit. Maybe I'll remind him why I was a part of the Black family, even if I never practiced most of their pureblood supremacy bullcrap."

"What did he do that was so unforgivable?"

"He impregnated a girl while polyjuiced as me. I challenged him to a duel at a certain time, and it was only your father's interference that saved his life. I don't think he ever repaid his life debt."

"Snape owed my dad a life debt?"

"Sure did. Since he never paid it off to your father, it's probably been transferred to you."

"So I could call in my life debt against him?"

"Or you could leave it hanging over his head. That'd probably anger him more."

"What was the girl's name?"

"Sarah Underhill."

"Why don't you go have that talk with Snape. I'm going to go find the Weasley twins."

"The ones who found the rat?"

"The two and only. They're notorious pranksters. I've got a job for them."

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

"So you want us to make badges that say 'Who is Sarah Underhill?', and distribute them around the school?"

"That's sounds about right," affirmed Harry.

"Not to discourage you from this or anything, but why?" asked George.

"Yeah, who is Sarah Underhill?" asked Fred.

"Ask Snape. I've never met her, but I heard from a reliable source that Sarah was a girl that Snape impregnated while at school, but you didn't hear that from me."

"Four hundred odd some badges coming your way. Fred, we've got to get started."

"Remember, don't tell anyone who Sarah is. It's the question that's important," called Harry after the two retreating boys.

"Harry!" called a familiar voice from behind him. He turned, and found Tom running up to him.

"Tom? What are you doing here?" asked Harry, surprised.

"I learned that I won't have to look after you anymore, that's what," replied Tom. "Come on, let's go somewhere where we can't be overheard."

Tom led Harry to an abandoned classroom, and they sat down behind some desks. "Well, has Quirrel started moving at all?"

"No. He hasn't shown any unusual activity since Friday. Did you owl Dumbledore?"

"No, but I have a letter for him here," said Tom, patting one of his pockets.

"Anything else you wanted to talk about?"

"Yes, actually. I finally finished a new spell that will allow us into our inner worlds, and I think I can manage it so that you could enter mine, and I could enter yours."

"Meaning?"

"You've been wanting to meet the three girls I have. Now you can talk to them."

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

_"Hello, Harry. It's nice to finally meet you," _said the bushy haired girl in the middle.

_"Likewise, Hermione,"_ replied Harry.

_"This is Ophelia,"_ said Hermione, gesturing to her right, where the newly introduced Ophelia was standing, smiling dreamily, as if caught daydreaming.

_"Nice to meet you," _said Harry, shaking Ophelia's hand gently.

_"And this is Susan," _said Hermione, gesturing to the other girl, on her left. Her auburn hair was plaited down her back, and she was wearing sky blue robes.

_"Hello,"_ she said brightly.

_"So this is the ragtag group of space explorers that I've heard so much about," _remarked Harry. _"Seems he was a little off on how exuberant you were about the great updoors."_

_"Oh, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover," _admonished Hermione. _"Besides, you've just met us, for all you know, we might be holding back our urges."_

_"So, what else do you do around here other than explore outer space?"_

_"Not much, really. I suppose we could have a look around here again, but space is so much more interesting. Do you want to see our ship?"_

_"Sure; I've never seen a spaceship before."_ The girls led him to a hangar where the _SSS Phoenix_ was stationed majestically, its two protruding red and gold wings catching the sun's glare and directing it straight into Harry's eyes. _"Wow. I've never seen anything like this ever. How long did it take to build it?"_

_"About seven months. I spent about two months designing it, and Susan built the frame, while Ophelia handled the delicate warp drive mechanisms and other electronic hardware."_

_"Impressive. Do you have any other projects around here?" _asked Harry.

_"NO!" _shouted Susan. _"Sorry; just don't get her started on her other projects, like the _Quantum_ and the APV, not to mention some of her other failed ideas."_

_"Spoilsport,"_ grumbled Hermione.

_"Also, don't ever let her get behind the wheel of any vehicle ever. You will wish that you had requested a different driver six ways from Sunday."_

_"You never let me have any fun!" _complained Hermione.

_"Because you've shown again and again that you can't be responsible around those two things. Why don't you give him a tour of the latrines?"_

_"You want me to show him YOUR latrines, you mean? I still think that my design was bet—"_

_"All right, stop it you two,"_ interrupted Ophelia. _"We have a guest, which means you can take your bickering elsewhere. Meanwhile, Harry, would you like to go get some tea?"_

_"Sure; we can let those two sort out their differences alone."_ Susan and Hermione were too busy arguing to notice the two of them slip off into the _Phoenix_'s cafeteria.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Snape was absolutely livid. His face had paled magnificently when Harry, the first Gryffindor through his door, entered the potions classroom, and when every single Gryffindor followed in, wearing the same badges, he nearly exploded. He was taking off so many points that Gryffindor, which had been in first place previously, went to dead last in a matter of minutes, then completely fell off the chart, only stopping when the Gryffindor rubies in the house point counter reached zero.

"Potter, ten points from Gryffindor! Your horned slugs were added seven seconds early!"

"Professor, I believe that Gryffindor is out of points for you to take," replied Harry. "Perhaps you could take them from Slytherin instead."

Several sniggers swept the classroom, and Snape exploded. "Potter! Detention! Right after class."

"With all due respect, sir, I have Transfiguration after this. I don't believe that Professor McGonagall will allow me to skive off."

Snape glowered angrily, and sneered back at Harry. "You think you're so great, Potter!" He spat the name as if it were to be cursed. "Just like your father before you, arrogant and brattish."

"My father was an honest, kind, brave man who saved your life from a werewolf. You will not be allowed to curse his name any longer!" Harry's eyes met Snape's, and Snape retaliated, trying to enter Harry's mind through force.

Harry let him in, directing him to the torture chamber located within his mind. Daphne had suggested it as a defense against mental invasions, and this was the time to use it. Snape entered the chamber, which shut behind him, and chains strapped themselves around his wrists and ankles. The chains started retreating back into the wall, pulling on Snape's limbs, stretching them until his joints were nearly out of their sockets. Seven short, stunning electric shocks fired through his body, electrocuting him. A bucket of cold water dumped on top of his head, drenching him to the bones. Another electric shock, and a bucket of scalding water splashed on top of his head.

Eighteen more times, this happened, Snape getting woozier and screaming loudly, painfully, through his gritted teeth. Afterwards, the chains retracted, freeing Snape, and the door opened behind him. Snape retreated slowly, his stretched out joints and spasm filled muscles making his journey even farther.

Outside of Harry's mind, Snape was writhing on the floor. Finally, his consciousness returned to him, and he staggered to his feet, staring at Harry emptily. "My father was a better man than you. Tell me my father was a better man," Harry ordered coldly.

"Y-your...f-fa-father...was...a..." Snape started, but Harry stopped him.

"Say his name. Tell me."

"J-J-James...P-Potter...was...a...a...b-better...m -man," said Snape, tears running down his face.

"Good." Harry stood, collected his materials, and walked out of Snape's classroom, Snape falling to the floor, still stuttering out his father's name.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Tom stirred the cauldron carefully. Even though he wasn't that great of a brewer, he had just enough skill to brew the potion currently simmering in his cauldron. He only had to wait several more minutes, and the potion would be complete. He had concocted his current scheme in a matter of minutes, and had perfected it over the course of the previous month. Harry had been distracted with school for the past month, and the conversation with the girls had helped him a lot.

Stage one was nearly complete. Now all he had to do was instigate stage two...

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Harry sat down at the breakfast table, holding his bowl of oatmeal protectively from the random Gryffindor food thieves. He had learned the hard way that his food was so good that rumors had spread about him being the descendant of a particular house-elf that had been world renowned for his food. That and the pervasive rumors about him and Snape. Snape had calmed down after that, even though the trend of the badges was still continuing now. Harry had to answer a worried Dumbledore about what Snape had done, and Harry presumed that the Headmaster had sat down with the greasy potions master and had a long talk.

When Sirius wrote back after Harry told him in a letter what he had done, he praised him highly, and congratulated him on a successful prank. Harry had replied saying that what he had done was way farther than any prank he would ever use, but that he had been very satisfied getting even with the bitter man.

Dumbledore had also seen fit to restore all of the points lost from Gryffindor that day in potions class, and that had elevated him in the eyes of some of the students. Some of them, like Draco Malfoy, had complained about favoritism, but the complaints hadn't gone anywhere.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Amelia Bones was sitting in her office drinking coffee when Kingsley Shacklebolt burst in. "Director, there's been an incident on floor three! We need your presence immediately!"

Amelia set her cup down and hurried after the dark-skinned and burly auror. They reached the third floor two minutes later, and Kingsley led her to the undersecretary's office. The door was open, and the undersecretary lay on the floor, dead, while another person lay on the floor, also dead. Sitting in a chair next to the two bodies was another Ministry employee, sweating nervously.

"What happened here?" asked Amelia, worried that an assassin might have penetrated so deeply into the Ministry.

"We are not sure. We do know that the man died of a poison released into his bloodstream immediately after this man apprehended him. The assassin managed to off Umbridge, but we don't have a motive, and thanks to the timely reaction of this man here, we prevented a more serious loss. I also discovered a vial of polyjuice potion on him, which might have been intended to try and get to some higher level Ministry officials with Umbridge's face."

"What is your name?" asked Amelia of the man sitting in the chair.

"My name is Oliver Arlot Dommod."

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

The news of the semi-thwarted assassination attempt at the Ministry by lowly Department of the Regulation of Magical Creature's employee Oliver Dommod was everywhere. Oliver was promoted from a junior employee to undersecretary for the Department head of the DRMC in a matter of days, and he was given the Order of Merlin, third class. Minister Fudge advocated for him, saying that as a former DRMC employee, he remembered how responsible he felt, and that he was glad that the responsibility of the average worker hadn't decreased. He also hinted that he was an up and coming employee, and that the resident workers should strive to be an employee like Oliver. The fact that Oliver had only been working at the Ministry just over a month hadn't even been mentioned.

Rita Skeeter had gotten an exclusive interview with Oliver, and he didn't have much to say, other than that he was glad that someone like him could make a difference in the world. Rita and the papers ate up his humility, and the average witch and wizard cheered him on from the sidelines.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

_"Daphne, I can't help but feel that something isn't right around here. While Quirrel hasn't been moving, something, or someone has. I wonder who was behind the attack on the Ministry. It was obviously a planned out maneuver, but it was foiled by this Oliver guy. I wonder why he was the one who foiled it. I mean, he didn't sound like he was that good a spellcaster, so wouldn't the assassin have killed him too? Or am I reading too much into this?"_

_"You're definitely reading too much into this. Oliver just surprised the assassin, that's all."_

_"Yeah, but why did the assassin startle so easily? Maybe Oliver is hiding something..."_

_"Harry, you're starting to sound like a conspiracy theory maniac! Stop worrying about it."_

_"Fine, I'll leave him alone. Have you been practicing your healing magic?"_

Daphne swore, and Harry raised an eyebrow. _"I didn't practice that much."_

_"Sure you didn't. More like at all?"_ Daphne hung her head, and Harry shook his head. _"How am I supposed to teach you magic if you don't practice?"_

_"Well, I...it's just...you see..."_

_"No, I don't see,"_ replied Harry.

_"I don't really like healing magic?"_

_"Why are you asking me if you don't like healing magic? You have an hour to practice. I'll be back after you're done."_

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

The rest of the fall passed without incident, and soon Christmas descended on the ancient castle. Mistletoe and sparkling lights decorated the halls, and twelve Christmas trees sat in the Great Hall, decorated with intricate ornaments and twinkling tinsel. Harry spent most of his time tutoring students in DADA, Transfiguration, Charms, and Potions. Snape was still much more subdued in his attempts to undermine the Gryffindors, but Harry and the twins were on the offensive more often than not preparing against Snape-ish activities.

One night, while Harry was walking back to Gryffindor Tower from the library, he saw one of the abandoned classrooms door's open, and, curious, he stepped inside to investigate. Inside was a large ornate mirror with an inscription written across the upper frame of the mirror. The mirror itself was silver, and when Harry looked into it, he felt something tingle inside his soul. He saw reflected in the mirror his mother and father, standing over him proudly, and Daphne holding hands with him happily. Tom was standing behind his parents, and Sirius was laughing at a joke that Harry had just made.

Harry stared at the mirror, his breath short. He had only seen his parents in a single picture, and he kept it on his person at all times. They couldn't be here—they were dead. He looked up at the inscription, and deciphered it. _I show you not your face but your heart's desire._ Looking back at the mirror, he saw his mother waving at him, and a lone tear fell down Harry's cheek. He turned around, and walked out of the room hesitantly. He knew a trap when he saw one. He could very well spend the rest of his days looking into the mirror, and never doing anything else. It would be a waste of his talents, and his real parents wouldn't have approved. Now firm in his decision, Harry slipped under his covers, drifting off to sleep as white snow fell to the ground outside his window.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

_"So, why are we exploring here again?" _asked Susan.

_"Because one of Harry's comments resonated with me when he spoke with me over tea. You know that we haven't explored here really at all. I have a feeling that we're going to find something here, though I don't know what,"_ replied Ophelia.

The three girls continued hiking through the dense forest along the deer path, cutting through the brambles and bushes that would have impeded their progress. Ophelia looked up at the sky, noting the sun's position in the sky, and stumbled over a root. She looked back and saw that she had caused a small cave in, and she pulled out her rope, anchoring herself to a tree. Calling Susan and Hermione over, she let herself into the pit.

There was a small pathway leading downward into the side of the mountain, and Ophelia gestured to the pathway questioningly. Hermione nodded, and Susan shrugged. Ophelia continued down the pathway, lit by torchlight, until she reached a stone wall. She put her hands on the wall, and pushed. The wall opened inward, revealing a cedar coffin. Removing the lid slowly, Ophelia found herself looking at the face of an eleven-year-old boy, his eyes closed, face pale, and without clothing. Ophelia gently touched his nose, and the boy shook himself awake.

Ophelia stood back, surprised. The boy opened his eyes, and looked straight into Ophelia's. _"Who are you?"_ asked Ophelia.

_"My name is Neville Longbottom. Where am I?"_

* * *

**A/N: Well, there's another chapter done. I honestly didn't have any of this written this morning. You should all be thankful I spent the time today to write this. Anyway, I'll probably have another time skip soon, so be prepared for that. The story will really kick off in Harry's later years, and I've resolved a number of plotlines that happened in the books that won't happen here. See you all next Monday!**


	12. Ignis Pocolum Decipio

**Chapter 12: Ignis Poculum Decipio**

"Harry Potter, you lied to me!" shouted Quirrel as the aurors restrained him.

"I did—and you fell for it," replied Harry.

"What about your oath?"

"The oath? You left me two significant loopholes. See if you can figure those out during your stay in prison." Harry waved jovially to Quirrel as the aurors dragged him out of the entrance hall.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Quirrel sat in his holding cell in the Ministry, thinking over what had gone wrong. He had just been preparing to leave Hogwarts when three aurors had burst into the great hall during lunch and arrested him. He hadn't even been accused of a crime—he'd just been taken away. Perhaps someone had figured out that he was serving the Dark Lord, but he wasn't sure. Potter had also gotten the best of him. He'd overlooked the wording of the oath when the blasted boy had eagerly agreed to swear one. He'd figured out what one of the loopholes was—that Harry wouldn't tell anyone, meaning that he could still inform someone by another method of communication—but the other one was avoiding him.

The door of his cell clanged open, and Oliver Dommod stepped into the room. Quirrel raised an eyebrow as Oliver conjured up a chair. "You may be wondering what a person like myself is doing here."

Quirrel nodded slowly. Oliver went on. "I just wanted to talk to your passenger." Quirrel's eyes widened.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

**_Three years later..._**

"Harry, aren't you excited for the Tri-Wizard Tournament?" asked Parvati as Harry sat down glumly at the Gryffindor table for breakfast.

"Well, yeah, but I have a feeling that something isn't quite right with this," replied Harry.

"You're just being paranoid, like Moody is," scoffed Parvati.

"Maybe I am," admitted Harry, "but I can't shake the feeling that something bad will happen tonight."

"If that's not paranoid, then what is?" commented Ronald Weasley, sitting down beside Parvati. "But, man, would I love being in the Tri-Wizard Tournament...did you hear about Fred and George? Apparently, they tried to put their names in, but Dumbledore's age line kept 'em out!"

"Yes, Ron, I was there. I remember," said Parvati.

"What about you, Harry? Fancy entering?" asked Ron.

"No. I don't want anything do to with the Tournament. Sure, I could probably win it easily, but that's not the point. I don't need more gold, and I certainly don't need more fame. Ron, can you keep your mouth shut? Watching you eat is disgusting."

Ron inadvertently closed his mouth and swallowed. "Parvati?" asked Harry, "did you complete the Transfiguration homework McGonagall assigned us yet?"

She shook her head. "Not yet. I wanted your opinion on Gamp's fourth law before I wrote it, but I have some ideas on how to structure the essay."

"But that's not due 'til Tuesday!" exclaimed Ron. "Why are you doing it now?"

"Because," Parvati snapped, "I want to get a good grade on it, and it will take some research to write properly. Besides, not all of us wait until five minutes before class to finish our homework."

"You don't believe in this, Harry, do you?"

"Actually, I've finished all of my homework already. Just means I have more time to learn other stuff or take naps," replied Harry. Ron shook his head despairingly. Harry ignored him and returned to his breakfast, taking another handmade scone from his picnic basket that held all of Harry's food. He had enchanted the basket to be connected to the kitchen, and he had an entire storehouse held inside the basket.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Dumbledore stood up from his high-backed chair at the staff table, and the Great Hall quieted. "It is now my pleasure to announce the three Champions for the Tri-Wizard Tournament!"

The Goblet of Fire stood on a stand just in front of Dumbledore, and Harry took another look at the enchantments on the Goblet. It was an intricate gold enchantment, but there was something off about the Goblet. Yesterday, the gold had been flawless, but now there was about thirty other colors slightly visible through the gold exterior. But that wasn't what caught Harry's attention. The colors were sorted into four groups, not three, and the four group only had one magical signature, and it was much larger than the other three groups.

Harry frowned. He couldn't tell Dumbledore that something was wrong with the Goblet without revealing some of his abilities, and it might be best for it to play out. Harry examined the signature on the Goblet that was slightly interfering with the regular enchantment. It was a dark blue color, but it was hard to recognize against the brilliant gold surrounding it.

"The Champion for Durmstrang will be Victor Krum!" read off Dumbledore, and the International Quidditch star came up onto the stage, shaking Dumbledore's hand, and left the room, going through the door indicated by Barty Crouch. Harry blinked a moment. The color of the extra enchantment was very similar to Barty Crouch's. It wasn't exact, but Harry had his suspicions. Unfortunately, Harry couldn't get closed to the Goblet without making himself look foolish, and without that closer look, he couldn't determine what the additional magic on the Goblet was doing.

"Representing Beaubatons will be Fleur Delacour!" The half-veela stood up from the Ravenclaw table and followed Krum's procedure. He had met her the day before, and her allure was interesting, to say the least. Harry hadn't even flinched when Fleur activated her allure, though Ron had almost made of fool of himself.

"For Hogwarts," continued Dumbledore, "we have the Weasley twins," he read frowningly. The Weasley twins grinned, and Harry smacked himself on the forehead. Of course their first attempt had just been that—a first attempt. He honestly couldn't blame them, but the fact that they had entered as the Weasley twins ensured that they would be counted as a team. Quite clever, if Harry said so himself. However, now Harry was starting to get a little nervous. He still wasn't sure what was wrong with the Goblet. Then the Goblet flared again, and Harry felt the dread settle in.

"Harry Potter," read Dumbledore quietly. He looked at Harry meaningfully, and Harry ever so slightly shook his head. He hadn't entered himself into the Tournament. Dumbledore raised his eyebrows, motioning for him to come up onstage. Murmurs spread throughout the crowd. Together they headed to the door where the four other Champions had gone.

"Harry, what happened?" asked Dumbledore worriedly.

"I don't know," replied Harry. "I was examining the Goblet just now, and I saw that something was unusual, but I was too far away from the Goblet to really get a good look at it."

"Perhaps a confundus charm of some sort," suggested Dumbledore.

"Maybe," said Harry. The pair entered into a trophy room of sorts, where the other Champions and their respective headmasters (sans Dumbledore) were gathered.

"Dumblydore," purred Madam Maxine, the large French headmistress, "what is this boy doing here?"

"Harry is the fourth, or should I say, fifth, Champion, as farfetched as it may seem." All eyes turned to Harry.

"I didn't put my name in the cup," said Harry. "I didn't want anything to do with the tournament, other than cheer on the Hogwarts Champion—well, Champions."

"Yeah," piped up Fred. "We offered to put his name in the cup when were preparing for our second go at getting our names in."

"He just waved us off, saying that if we wanted to risk life and limb for startup funds, then to go ahead," finished George.

"They are lying!" exclaimed Snape, who had entered a moment ago with Barty Crouch, Ludo Bagman, Professor McGonagall and Professor Moody.

"While the Weasley twins may have gotten past the age line," said Moody, "Potter didn't. Besides, it would have taken a very powerful confundus charm to make the Goblet pick a fourth Champion.

"I demand that Durmstrang have two more names set in for competition," interjected Karkaroff.

"Mine too," added Madam Maxine.

"I'm afraid that's not possible," said Mr. Crouch. "The Goblet has gone out until the next competition. It won't be possible to add contestants to this with the Goblet of Fire."

"And the Weasley twins were entered as a single pair, so you would only get one extra Champion anyway," reminded Harry. Karkaroff glared at him, and Harry took the time to examine Karkaroff's core. Part of his recent training was to see if he could identify if a person had used magic recently. He wasn't able to detect much, but from what he was seeing from his core, there hadn't been ay significant drain on his core since three days prior, and the confundus charm would have taken a lot out of whoever cast it. Harry cast his glance around the trophy room, and found Moody's to be especially interesting.

It was a very similar dark blue to Mr. Crouch's, strikingly so, and Harry began to wonder if Moody and Crouch were related closely. Maybe it had just been a fluke. Most magical core colors took after one of their parent's, so perhaps this was a particular shade of blue connecting the two families back someways. But Moody's core was drained a bit, not to mention that he had some sort of magical disguise going on. It was probably something that Moody used to ward off paranoia.

No one else here had the same kind of drain, so perhaps someone had snuck into the castle and confunded it. While plausible, Harry didn't want to think about that option. "Harry will just have to compete. That's what the rules say," said Mr. Crouch.

"I suppose," said Dumbledore, hanging his head lightly. Harry could tell that he hadn't wanted this to happen to him. "Now, if you would all run along to bed, we shall be working out some of the specifics in a bit."

Harry left the room with Fred and George on either of his sides. "So," began Harry, "looks like you managed to get in after all."

"It wasn't hard, really. You'd think that they'd enchant the Goblet so that you can't levitate it out of the age line."

"That's all it took?" asked Harry incredulously.

"Yep," affirmed George. "You'll notice we signed up as a team, because there is no way one of us could compete and not the other."

"Besides," added Fred, "we're only sixth years. We need all the help we can get."

"Did you guys happen to put a notice-me-lots charm on your paper?" asked Harry.

"Oooh," remarked George, "he's a sharp one, he is."

"Yes," replied Fred, "we did use a notice-me-lots charm on the strip of paper. We figured that the Goblet could use our help getting to notice us the most, you know, as friendly competition."

"Any ideas what the first task will be about?"

"Not a clue," they chorused.

"Generally, the first task has been fighting against some sort of monster, or other various acts of valor," said George.

"The second task is testing the Champion's cunning, problem-solving, and preparedness."

"The third one's up in the air; you can never tell what's gonna happen with it."

"Huh," said Harry. "I guess I'll think on that. See you tomorrow."

Harry, however, hadn't been counting on the all-out party waiting for them back at Gryffindor Tower. Harry only narrowly escaped the crowds through a series of notice-me-not charms and invisibility charms. When he slipped into the fourth-year boys' dormitory, Ron was standing beside his bedside. "So you decided that you really didn't have enough glory, huh?" Ron snarked.

"What are you talking about?" asked Harry.

"Oh, so the great and mighty Harry Potter didn't enter himself into the Tri-Wizard Tournament?"

"I didn't!" Harry insisted.

"Yeah, and the sky is green. Stop lying."

"Do you want me to swear a magical oath that I did not knowingly put my name in or ask someone else to do it for me?"

"You'd be lying if you swore one, so—"

Harry, now viciously angry, hexed Ron so fast that Ron didn't have time to blink before he hit his bed. "Don't," Harry said slowly, "make me angry. You will live to regret it."

With that, Harry climbed into his own bed, and fell asleep quickly, not caring that Ron was still immobilized in the bed next to him.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Harry was having a tough time around the school, as students from the other three houses were denouncing him, ridiculing him, and just overall bullying him. Naturally, when someone tried to hex him in the hallway, he deflected the hex with his hand and not so much as a backward glance, while the deflected curse struck the Slytherin and the hexer-turned-hexee fell to the floor. After that, no one tried to curse him, but the gossiping and pranking were not un to deal with. The pranks not so much, because Harry could often times literally see them coming, and he always checked his bed, bookbags, and seats for pranks, and started exclusively eating in the kitchens.

Fred and George also tried to discourage their behavior, but because of their pranking nature, they hadn't much of a good reputation, though when they overheard someone dissing Harry, they would retaliate. Harry thanked them profusely for this, but they turned off his thanks, saying that they were indebted to his for all his earlier tutoring lessons. Said tutoring lessons declined, so only some of Harry's closer friends (sans Ron, whom Harry had decided was to be excluded from his group) and those who didn't believe the rumomrs going around were left. That included the Patil and Weasley twins, Dean Thomas, Hannah Abbott, and Terry Boot.

Daphne also tried to encourage him, and Harry often found himself conversing with her for hours at a time. However, Harry nearly hit his breaking point when Draco Malfoy started distributing badges that wore messages like, 'Support Durmstrang, school of Champions', or just 'Potter stinks'. Harry had almost hexed Malfoy, but Malfoy, surprisingly, got the draw on him and hexed first. Unfortunately for the Slytherin, Moody chose that moment to appear, and transfigured him into a ferret. Professor McGonagall had come along at that point, and rebuked Moody, telling him to go to the student's head of house for punishments.

Harry also took the time to write to Sirius several times, and Sirius had actually come to the castle himself to get the full story. He had then spent the rest of that Saturday afternoon with his godfather, who had tried going over some complex spells with Harry, but Harry got most of them on the first try, and Sirius just shook his head, laughing, saying that both of Harry's parents would be ridiculously proud. Sirius said that his dad would commend him on getting into the Tournament, while his mother would compliment him on his advanced studies.

Harry had a big break a week and a half before the first task. The Weasley twins had declared that they knew what the first task was, and Harry had just raised his eyebrows. "We're being serious," said the two together. "The first task will be to steal a golden egg from a mother dragon's nest."

Harry nearly collapsed when he heard that, and the twins told him where he could confirm their information. Later that night, Harry snuck out of the castle using his invisibility cloak and visiting the dragon holding pen. Each of the four dragons were more powerful than anything Harry could easily take down, so he prepared a specific spell that would prevent the dragon from ever noticing him or anything he did. He cast the first layer on each of the dragons, so that he could just activate it when the time came, and walk up and take the egg from the nest. Unfortunately for Harry, they were keeping the golden eggs somewhere else, so he couldn't have a go at those.

Strolling back from the holding pen, Harry noticed Hagrid taking Madam Maxine for a walk, and they were heading toward the dragon pen. Realizing that Madam Maxine would know soon, and that Fleur would soon as well, he decided to take a risk.

The Beaubaton's dormitories were located in the south wing of the castle, while the Durmstrang students preferred to sleep out on their boat. The girl's section was warded against boys, but it was pitifully easy to slip through them, and making sure that Fleur was the only one in her dorm room, he knocked on the door twice.

"Yes, what iz it?" she said irritably, before realizing that there was no one there. Harry removed the cloak from just around his face so that she could see him, and she nearly screamed.

"Don't do zat," she requested when she had let him into her room. It was surprisingly sparce, though the dresser and wardrobe were full of clothing.

"I didn't want anyone else to see me," explained Harry. "After all, boys aren't allowed to be in these parts."

"How did you get in anyway? And why are you here?" she asked.

"The wards were for repelling boys, not men," boasted Harry jokingly. Fleur laughed. "But, seriously, I could have gotten through those when I was eight."

"Those are high quality wards," protested Fleur.

"And I could erect better ones at seven. But that's not the point. I'm here to tell you what the first task is." Fleur raised an eyebrow, so Harry continued. "They've got four dragons, one for each team, and you have to retrieve an egg from the nest of a mother dragon."

Fleur paled a little. "You are sure about 'zis?"

"Madam Maxine should be visiting them right now with Hagrid. I passed them on my way here."

"Madam Maxine surely will tell me. So, why did you come?"

"To get the credit for it," replied Harry cheekily. Inwardly he groaned. His godfather was wearing off on him more than he thought.

Fleur laughed again, and Harry could hear the echoes of her silvery pearl laughter inside his brain. _"Finally, puberty hits,"_ commented Daphne.

"Was zere anyzing else you wanted?"

"Well, I guess I could tutor you in something if you like," answered Harry.

"I don't believe I shall be needing tutoring from an fourteen-year-old."

"Do you know why I didn't purposefully enter the Tournament? Because it would have been child's play to get past Dumbledore's age line."

"No, I don't."

"Because it would be too easy for me. While taking on a dragon without any preparation might frazzle me a little, I could probably take down a Ukrainian Ironbelly single-handedly if I needed to."

"You are kidding."

"I'm not. Do you know much about the strength of magical cores?"

"No."

"I'm rather an expert myself, and I developed my own mage sight without instruction at age seven. I also discovered that my core is about ten times larger than the average core. Do you know what that means?"

"Ten times?"

"You don't believe me?"

"No, I don't."

"Can you cast the most powerful Stupefy you can? I'll see if I can block it."

Fleur stood up and Harry readied himself. It took skill to block any spell without a wand, but Harry had practiced for about two years at this. When Fleur released the jet of red light, Harry simply caught the spell between his middle and index fingers, preventing it from moving in ay direction. When Fleur lowered her wand, Harry flicked the spell back at her, and she collapsed when the jet of red light hit her. Harry revived her moments later, and she sat up dazed.

"I guess you are zat powerful."

"Would you like to learn how to do that?"

"You think I could do zat? But you just said that you were ten times more powerful than—"

"You are about twice as powerful as an average person. I think you could learn how to catch spells like that by the end of the year."

"Then I shall take you up on your tutoring," declared Fleur. Harry heard footsteps outside, and slipped under his invisibility cloak. a knock came at the door, and Fleur opened it cautiously. Madam Maxine was standing in the doorway, and she looked slightly worried. "Fleur, zey have dragons!"

* * *

**A/N: Here's another chapter, and it moves the story on nicely. If you're wondering about the time skip, it's intentional, because nothing really happens during Harry's second and third years. You'll learn why later, so hold your horses. You might also have to hold your horses longer, because next week, I will be switching from a Monday update to a Tuesday update. I've just been getting these chapters out really late on Monday lately, and I feel like you can enjoy them better if I release them at a time that works better for me. Thanks for your understanding.**

**Also, someone asked me in a review if I would translate the chapter titles, and I think that I will hold off on those for the moment, and if you remind me, I'll put it all at the end.**


	13. Cum Dracone Certo

**Chapter 13: Cum Dracone Certo**

"Harry, are you sure you know what you're going to do?" asked Parvati for the fifth time.

"Yes, I'm sure, Parvati. I worked out my plan a week ago. All I have to do is snap my fingers."

"That still doesn't sound like it's going to defeat a dragon," Parvati said skeptically.

"Have you ever known me to fail?" asked Harry rhetorically.

"Yes. You got a 99 on your second year potions final exam," replied Parvati.

"How is that a fail?"

"Because you didn't get 104% like you usually do."

"Actually, my current potions grade is 109%," corrected Harry.

"Back then it was 104%."

"No, at the end of second year, my potions grade was 114%. You're confusing second year with first year, when I had to make up for three assignments that were 40% and below, so I only got a 102% for that year."

"How does anyone keep up with you?"

"Well, Padma usually keeps herself at about 103% in her classes, and I think that Mandy Brocklehurst stays pretty close to 102%."

"How do you even get over a hundred percent anyway?"

"Ask Padma. I need to prepare myself for the first task."

"You said that you were already prepared!" exclaimed Parvati.

"I meant that I needed to prepare myself mentally for the task ahead of me. All of the preparations are set. I will only need to raise a finger to defeat the dragon."

"Yeah, right. Snapping your fingers isn't going to cut it."

"Fine, would you like me to wink at the dragon instead?"

"Wink?"

"Personally, I think snapping my fingers gives off a better vibe than winking at it. It's less...sexual, in connotation."

"Fine. Don't tell me what you're going to do. I'll let you prepare by yourself." Parvati stood up and walked away.

"See you later Parvati!" called Harry after her, but she didn't turn back. Ignoring her, Harry sunk back into the wall, thinking. After thanking the Weasley twins for their cooperation, he had checked to see if Krum knew what the first task was. Turned out, he had, but still thanked Harry for coming out of his way to inform him. Harry still hadn't had his first lesson with Fleur yet, because she was training for facing the dragon.

An alarm sounded from his pocket, and Harry stood up. It was time for the first task. Strolling down to the field, Harry entered the Champion's tent first. Since no one was around, Harry cast a color changing charm on the tent so that it would cycle through the rainbow. Two minutes later, Ludo Bagman entered the tent and came over to Harry.

"Know what you're going to do, Harry?" asked Bagman nervously.

"Yeah. I'm going to snap my fingers. It'll be fine." Bagman looked at him strangely, but then the Weasley twins entered with Fleur, and Bagman stepped away from Harry carefully. "Ah," he said, "you're here. Looks like we're just waiting on Krum."

Fleur just shrugged, while Fred ad George grinned inexplicably. Waiting for a few more minutes, Harry twiddled his thumbs, leaning against the tent wall, now a dark blue. Bagman noticed the tent change colors, and looked at Harry quizzically; Harry ignored him. Finally, Krum came into the tent, and Bagman gathered the five of them around.

"In here are four dragons, one for each team. You will pick one from the bag here, and that will correspond to the dragon you face. Your job is to retrieve the golden egg from the dragon's nest. Ladies first." Bagman pulled out a bag, and Fleur stuck her hand in, drawing out a blue dragon with the number 2. Krum went next, pulling out a red dragon with the number 3. Fred took out a green dragon with the number 1, leaving Harry with a black, horned dragon with a number 4 attached.

"Very well, Fred, George, you will be going first. Good luck!" The twins left the tent, slightly nervous, but Harry knew they would be fine. He had taught them well. However, since Harry had overlayed all of the dragons with his spell, he could take a look at the other battles as well. Taking a minute to cast a complex illusion spell, he hid himself with a powerful disillusionment charm, careful to block his scent and to muffle his footsteps.

Fred was taking the dragon head on, blocking the dragon's flame with a special shield that Harry had taught them. Fred had asked him if he could teach them a shield that would defend against dragon flame, and Harry had shown them one that he had invented himself. He hadn't told them that, of course, but they'd still learned it. And it worked, apparently. Harry hadn't had the time to check it, but was confident in his own spell-crafting abilities.

Fortunately, it was working perfectly, and George, who was disillusioned, was creeping around behind the dragon. Harry took the time to take control of the dragon, inserting himself into its mind, making sure it ignored George. It worked, and seven minutes in, the Weasley twins retrieved their egg. Now it was Fleur's turn.

Fleur stepped out confidently, and conjured a harp. Sensing what she would do, Harry cast a silencing ward over himself, and the enchanted harp began playing softly. Harry didn't dare enter the dragon's mind, less he fall asleep, and the illusion had to defeat the dragon by itself. However, Harry didn't have to worry about that, as the dragon just smashed the harp accidentally, stopping the soothing music, and bringing the dragon back to full awareness.

The dragon snapped at Fleur, who just barely dodged out of the dragon's attack. With her only plan having failed, Fleur was trying to think something up on the spot. Harry took the time to enter the dragon's mind, and began carefully controlling the dragon's attempts to eat her, driving her into a corner. Backed up against a rock, Fleur held her wand out in front of her desperately, frantically using a blasting curse.

It struck the dragon in the eye, which exploded in a gory mess, splattering Fleur with dragon blood and eye guts. She flinched, and the dragon roared in pain. Harry tried to control the dragon's actions, but the fierce attitude broke free of Harry's control, and the dragon lashed out angrily.

Fleur screamed in pain. Harry had just only been able to deflect the dragon's aim, but the dragon managed to only bite off her left arm. The rock that Fleur had been leaning against exploded as the dragon's head crashed into it, and Fleur took this moment to run off. Seeing the egg free of a guardian, which was currently stunned by the impact against the rock, she grabbed the egg with her good arm, and held it up. Dragon handlers immediately ran onto the scene, stunning the dragon, and Fleur was taken off the field and rushed into the medical tent.

Harry took a deep breath and sighed. He had barely managed to save her life, though she would never know. Now that he knew how dangerous they could be, he was staying out here so that the next one wouldn't kill Krum. Hopefully Krum would do anything too stupid.

As Harry's luck would have it, Krum did something stupid. He used a conjunctivitis curse, blinding the dragon, which began flailing dangerously around the compound. Krum got his egg, but after the dragon had smashed up half of the other eggs in the nest.

Harry's turn was next, so he walked back to the tent, replacing his illusion seamlessly (he'd had a lot of practice skipping class that way), and when Bagman opened the tent flap, Harry entered the compound confidently. He knew his plan would work—he just had to execute it. The dragon—a Hungarian Horntail—stared down at him menacingly. Harry glared back. He looked up to the judge panel, and Dumbledore motioned for him to start. Harry took a deep breath, and snapped his fingers.

Instantly, the dragon lay down, and Harry simply walked over and picked up the golden egg. Walking out of the compound, he heard Bagman saying in the commentary, "And Hogwart's very own Harry Potter is the quickest to get his egg!" Smiling, he continued walking back to the Champions tent.

His scores were up a minute later—he received a total of 44 points. Dumbledore and Bagman gave him tens, Madam Maxine and Crouch nines, and Karkaroff gave him a six. Harry didn't care that Karkaroff was giving the short end of the stick—he'd still outperformed all of the other Champions, with the Weasley twins in second with 41. Krum had 37, while Fleur got 34. Harry honestly hadn't expected Fleur to get so many, but her rally at the end had probably given her some pity points after her arm had been eaten off.

Deciding to visit Fleur, he went to the medical tent, where Madam Pomfrey was furiously working behind a curtain to heal Fleur. Krum was still sitting in a hospital bed nearby, his burns being ignored in favor of Fleur's predicament. Krum noticed him, and called him over. "Vy is I not being attended to?" the Bulgarian asked.

"Fleur's arm got bitten off. She was lucky not to get killed."

"How do you know that?"

"What do you mean?"

"I vasn't allowed to vatch the matches. How did see them? You vere there the whole time."

"Was I? Or was it just an extremely complex illusion that fooled you while I sat in the compound disillusioned manipulating the fights from the background?"

"That is highly unlikely."

"True, but not impossible."

"Did you really manipulate the fights?"

"To some extent," Harry admitted. "Hold on. We have an eavesdropper." Harry looked down, and he saw a green beetle trying to fly away. Wandlessly summoning it, he examined it under mage vision. "We have a beetle animagus. Huh. I don't recall there being a beetle on he list of registered forms. Maybe you should keep that knowledge to yourself, Rita." The beetle, which had been trying to escape earlier, now doubled her efforts.

"Vat is an animagus?"

"An animagus is a person who can transform into an animal at will. You can only have one form, and you're required to register your form by Ministry law. In fact, my father was one, though he didn't register before he died."

"You said her name vas Rita?"

"Rita Skeeter, in the flesh," Harry affirmed. "Rita, why don't you transform back, and we can have a little chat."

Harry set her down on the ground, and Rita appeared moments later. "How on earth did you catch me?"

"It was simple. I sensed your aura."

"You seem to have many talents, Harry. Illusions, confundus charms, and apparently, snapping your fingers does something as well."

"You can add illegal animagus, occlumens, wandless magic master, and near perfect obliviator." Rita paled at that last one. "Yes, I could invade your mind, and rework it to fit my image. You'd forget all those silly secrets you keep, I'll find them out, and you can go and register your form. What do you say?"

"Well, Harry, I don't think you'd need to go so far—"

"Let me make one thing clear, Ms. Ogden (Rita paled even further). I don't want you writing about me one bit whatsoever, unless I approve the entire article. That includes any of your six aliases, and the one you plan to create to try and weasel out of this."

"Harry, the public has a right to know certain things—"

"And other things must be kept secret. If you print one word about me I don't approve of, then I will destroy your reputation. After all, I'm the Boy-Who-Lived, and you're just a vicious lying cheapskate reporter. Who would win in a fight?"

Rita nodded slowly. "And it might even get you a better deal. I may come to you when I want to be interviewed, maybe giving you exclusive rights to write about. How's that. In exchange for me not revealing anything I learned today, any article that mentions my name must be run by me first. I'll make sure to let your employers know that. Good day, Rita." Rita disappeared, the green beetle flying out of the medical tent erratically.

Krum reexamined Harry closely. "That was very impressive, Potter. I didn't think you vould be able to deal vith her."

"Reporters are easier to deal with than you might think. All you have to do is get a little blackmail on them, and suddenly, they do everything they can to stay on your good side. Journalism is a fickle business, to say the least. Oh, call me Harry."

"Only if you call me Victor. Did you really see vat happened to Fleur?"

"Yes. I deflected the dragon's aim a bit, so it only bit off her arm, rather than her torso. A torso is harder to replace than an arm."

Victor chuckled, and Harry noted the strained cracks that were present in the laughter. Fred and George suddenly appeared on either side of Harry; Victor flinched, but Harry remained unmoved. "Don't do that, please," requested Victor.

"Okay," chorused the twins.

"Harry, how'd you do?" asked Fred.

"We got a 41."

"I know," replied Harry. "Nice disillusionment, George. You might want to work on your silencing charms a bit. Next time the dragon might hear you."

George stared. "Didn't I tell you?" asked Harry. "I was manipulating all of the fights. I made your dragon ignore George's footsteps, changed Fleur's death to a disfigurement, and prevented the dragon from smashing Krum's egg. Oh, and I snapped my fingers, too."

"Fleur's death?"

"Snapped your fingers?"

"Madam Pomfrey is fixing up what remains of Fleur's left arm right now. It was bitten off just below the shoulder."

All of the three others flinched. Harry couldn't blame them. Losing an arm was just...frightening, to say the least. "I'm going to go check up on Fleur. I'll be back in a moment." Harry disappeared from view, slipping behind the curtains, where Fleur lay prostrate on a hospital bed, blood tainting the sheets near her arm stump. The wound looked absolutely horrible. The bone was jagged from where it had shattered, and the muscles wrapped around it were ripped apart uglily. Madam Pomfrey had stopped the blood flow to the arm, and was rerouting the blood vessels to accommodate the lost arm.

Harry took another look at the arm, this time under mage sight. Fleur's saucy red core was fluctuating, sending a lot of energy to the arm, speeding along the healing process. The arm was a mess of distracted red particles, and a cluster of Madam Pomfrey's magic could be seen blocking off the blood vessels to her arm stump. Harry watched Madam Pomfrey work for about another minute, before deciding to leave, lest he disturb the healing process. While Harry did know a decent amount of healing magic, he couldn't hold a candle to professional healers like Madam Pomfrey.

Harr emerged from behind the curtain, and dropped the disillusionment. "How is she?" asked Fred.

"Well, Pomfrey's got it under control. Fleur won't have a left arm anymore, but she'll live."

"At least she's alive," agreed George. "Do you want to go back to Gryffindor Tower?"

"No, I think I'll stay here."

"Then we'll stay too," declared Fred.

"I still haf to be treated," said Victor glumly.

"Oh, I can take care of that," said Harry.

"You are a healer?"

"No, but I know some rudimentary healing techniques. Burns like yours won't be too bad." Victor acquiesced, and Harry poured his magic into the burns, reforming the skin and recalibrating the nerve endings. After about a minute, he stopped.

"That vas good. I feel better now."

"No problem." An awkward silence dropped on the group, only to be broken when Harry asked Victor, "Know any good jokes?"

"Vell, there vas this one vere a hag, a flounder, and a piano vere—"

"Heard it," the three Hogwartsians said, cutting off the Bulgarian.

"It vas vorth a try."

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Sirius entered the medical tent and tackled Harry. "Wonderful performance, Harry!"

"Geroff me, you dog!" grunted Harry, wrestling himself from his godfather's grip.

"Really, Harry, it was well done."

"It was five parts skill, two points luck, and one point practice."

"You've had practice subduing a dragon with your bare fingers?"

Harry smacked Sirius on the shoulder. "No, but I did have some practice exerting my will over a dragon."

"So that's what you did."

"Not exactly. I found out about the dragons a week or two ago, and I cast this spell over each of them that would allow me to enter its mind and control it."

"When did you practice?"

"During the task."

"Huh?"

"i practiced on all of the other dragons."

Sirius's expression darkened. "You didn't cause Fleur to lose her arm, I hope."

"Actually, I sort of did." At Sirius's outraged face, Harry put up his hands. "No, hear me out. It was either an arm or a torso. I chose the arm. If I could have completely redirected the attack, I would have."

"I assume you already checked on her. How is she?"

"She'll live, but the arm is toast. I saw Madam Pomfrey rerouting the blood vessels in her arm. Madam Pomfrey should be done in about another ten minutes."

"Harry, why don't you introduce me to the other Champions here?"

"Well, you already know the Weasley twins, and Victor is too good a guy to get an introduction, so there." Sirius's mock shock made Victor laugh.

"Sirius Black, how do you do?" said Sirius, shaking Victor's hand vigorously.

"Victor Krum, though I think you already knew that."

Sirius laughed, and the two of them started a detailed conversation about Quidditch, Harry and the twins sometimes joining in. But since Harry didn't follow Quidditch as much as his godfather did, he generally stayed quiet. About ten minutes passed, and then the curtain around Fleur's bed opened for a moment, just long enough for Madam Pomfrey to step through.

"How is she?" asked Harry.

"She'll live, but I couldn't do anything about her arm. What were the organizers thinking? Dragons? Sure, lets give them one each!" Madam Pomfrey grumbled.

"When will she be awake?"

"She'll be awake tomorrow. I want to let her sleep while her body readjusts to the loss of her arm. Dragons, bah!"

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Harry went to the hospital wing the next morning, where Fleur had been moved the previous night for convenience. Fleur's family were all huddled around her bed, and Fleur was still sleeping. Harry did a quick mage vision check, and saw that the potion would wear off in forty seconds. Fleur's father looked up from the bed when he heard Harry's footsteps, and stood up. "Hello, you are Harry Potter, non?"

"Yes. Fleur should be up in half a minute."

"How would you know zat?"

"The potion's almost worn off. I'm sorry, but I don't know your name."

"My name is Jean Delacour, zis is my wife Annette, and my younger daughter Gabrielle."

"Nice to meet you, though I wish I could say the same about the circumstances."

"When I heard zat Fleur had been chosen for ze tournament, I was so proud, but now, I want to tear apart ze organizers." Fleur's eyes suddenly flew open. She sat up, wincing, and tried to lean on her nonexistent arm, and fell back on the bed.

"What happened?" she asked.

"The dragon bit off your arm," explained Harry. Fleur looked down at where her left arm used to be, and screamed. The stump was bandaged, but that didn't mean that she was ready to see it. Fleur reached over with her right arm to touch the stump, and winced when she touched it.

"I do not remember much from ze task. Did I get ze egg?" Gabrielle plopped the egg down on Fleur's lap, taking it from where it had been resting on the bedside table, and said something rapidly in french. Harry hadn't taken the time to learn the language, so her just ignored the little girl.

"Papa, why are you still here? Don't you have a meeting to go to?"

"You are much more important to me zan a meeting, Fleur," replied Monsieur Delacour. Fleur nodded gratefully, and then looked up at Harry. "Why are you here?"

"To apologize."

"Why?"

"Because you shouldn't have lost your arm."

"What are you talking about?"

"I was in the compound with you, invisible. The night I told you about the dragons, I had cast a compulsion charm over each of the dragons, and it would allow me to control them somewhat. When you blasted the dragon's eye out, it went berserk, and tried to eat you. I managed to affect the dragon's aim enough that it missed your torso, but it still got your arm."

"You mean to say zat you are sorry for saving my life?"

"I'm sorry I couldn't do more!"

"Harry," said Fleur, "I am zankful zat you helped me, but if you helped me too much, I wouldn't appreciate it."

Harry blushed a little, and Fleur laughed, her mother joining her a moment later. Sighing, Harry turned to leave, but Fleur's hand caught his. "Zank you."

"Do you still want some tutoring?" asked Harry. "Next time, the dragon might lose an arm instead."

"Yes, please. I will owl you a good time." Harry left, and as he did, he distinctly heard Fleur's mother ask, "Tutoring? From him?"

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

_"Rock!"_

_"Paper!"_

_"Dang!"_

_"I win again!"_ exclaimed Susan. _"Twenty-nine out of fifty-seven?"_

_"No,"_ conceded Neville, _"I know when I am beaten."_

Susan giggled, and Neville sighed. Hermione had introduced the two of them, and Susan had quickly become a master, outwitting all of them. She hadn't lost a round in about two months, and they'd played thousands of rounds. In fact, Ophelia had to ban all RPS matches on the deck, because Susan wasn't doing her job properly.

Neville still didn't know how he had gotten there. All he remembered was some fuzzy images of his gran and some of the gardening journals he had kept. There was one in particular that he had liked, but he couldn't remember why. Now, Neville was in charge of all food, and he had taken numerous journals and filled them to the breaking point with his knowledge of plants.

Hermione was still trying to figure out how to work magic inside Tom's soul, and so far, she wasn't coming very far. Still, she kept going, and Neville would cheer her on. If she could find a way to use magic here, then Neville would be the first to sign up. Granted, there would only be two people in line behind him, but it was the principle of the thing. First was good, and Neville couldn't recall a time outside of Tom where he had won anything particularly noteworthy.

_"Susan,"_ called Ophelia from the bridge, _"did you check the Warp Capacitor Drive against the primary fuel gages? I want to take off in a couple of minutes."_

_"Yeah, they're all fine, Captain. Whenever you're ready, you can go ahead and five the order to launch."_

_"Then let's go. The Corporal got a probe back from _Harrius Insulum_, and I want to check it out tomorrow."_

_"Roger that."_ Susan sat down in her driver's seat and began flipping switches and pressing buttons. _"All systems ready and waiting. Countdown beginning in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, ZERO!"_

The _SSS Phoenix_ blasted off from where it had landed on _Yggdrasil Repita_, and Neville looked out the window. The orange sky was darkening, and soon, stars were visible from the deck. Then he noticed Susan frowning behind him. _"Captain, I have a reading on our starboard life scanners. There's a ship!"_

_"Establish radio contact."_

_"Roger."_ Susan flipped more switches, and pressed more buttons, before frowning again. _"Uh, Captain, I have a heat signature __separating from the ship. It's moving pretty fast..."_ Susan's eyes widened, and she started frantically pressing more buttons and flipping more switches. _"Prepare for impact! Enemy torpedoes approaching!"_

_"Custodian, get into weapons," _ordered Ophelia. Just then, the three torpedoes struck the starboard side, and Neville was thrown to the ground.

Hermione's voice came in through the radio all staticy. _"Captain, what's going on?"_

_"We're under attack. Prepare the AI modules. I want to get through this." _Today had been up to a fairly good start, thought Neville; but now it was going steadily downhill. Another impact struck the side of the _SSS Phoenix_, and Neville fell to the ground. He scrambled up and threw open the door to the weapons facility. Clambering into the cockpit of the firing module, he started up the OS and put on his headset.

_"Lets get down to business!"_

* * *

**A/N: Hello, everyone, and welcome to your friendly Tuesday updates! Don't forget your pizza rolls. Oh, you did? Never mind. I've now got a plan that will have you hanging by the edges of your seats. It involves not returning to our lovely heroes aboard the _SSS Phoenix._ Mwahahaha.**

**Fleur gets the unlucky thirteen. Yay!**

**In other news, I've got another story idea, and it might be good enough for a one shot. I'll be working on it a little more today. If it's good enough to post, then I'll do that. Next week at the earliest would be when I'd post it.**

**But that's enough of my ramblings, interesting as they are, so R&R, and I'll see you next Tuesday.**


	14. Sub Luna Salto

**Chapter 14: Sub Luna Salto**

"On Christmas night, from 8:00 to 12:00, the Yule Ball will be held in the Great Hall. It is open to Fourth years and above, though you may invite someone from a younger year. Dress robes will be worn. I expect you all to conduct yourselves with the honor of Gryffindor house. This is also a time when you may let down your hair. Dancing lessons will be arranged for those who wish to learn. That is all." Professor McGonagall left the classroom abruptly, and the girls (particularly Parvati and Lavender) started giggling immensely

"Harry," whispered Dean, "who are you going to take?"

"I don't know yet. Let me think on it. How about you?"

"I'm thinking Parvati," said Dean.

"Go for it. I'll talk to you later." Harry slipped out of the transfiguration classroom, using his mage sight to look for his target. It took him five minutes, but he located who he wanted to talk to.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Fleur was sitting in the library, flipping through a book on advanced transfiguration from the Hogwarts library. The library was actually bigger than the library at Beaubatons, but was organized differently than the one at Beaubatons, so she was a little lost.

While Fleur understood that she could never have her arm back, she did think that she might be able to produce an artificial one with transfiguration. However, the book she was looking at didn't deal with human transfiguration at all. Sighing, she closed the book, and shoved it to the side. She tried to reach for the next book, but nothing happened. Grunting in frustration, she used her right arm to grab it. She still felt like she could use her left arm, even though intellectually she knew she couldn't.

Just as she grabbed the book, another hand touched it as well. Fleur jolted upward. Harry Potter was standing next to her, his wild green eyes inquisitively looking upon her. "Yes? What do you want?" she asked.

"I was wondering if you wanted to go to the Yule Ball with me." He said it like he meant it, but it was so casual he might have been talking about what he had eaten for dinner the previous night.

"Sure, zat is fine." Fleur managed to say. Those green eyes. They were too powerful—drawing in unexacting witches and forever making them long for another look. It just wasn't fair!

"Great, thanks. When did you want to meet up for the tutoring?"

"Tomorrow, after breakfast," Fleur replied. "Zat works best for me."

"Ok, see you then!" Harry left, and Fleur forced her heart to slow down. It wasn't easy. Those green eyes. They called to her. At least she'd be able to look into them more later.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abere_

* * *

Harry took another deep breath. Asking Fleur out had taken a lot more than it looked. At least it had gone well. Harry looked at the wall he was passing. It was the Wall of Frustration, named after his numerous attempts to divulge its secrets. So far, Harry found out, no one knew what the Wall did, and Harry was almost giving up on it. He had, in fact, done so a year ago, but then he had accidentally opened up a large study hall one night, but for whatever reason, he couldn't seem to repeat the event.

Dean was coming down the other hallway, a little depressed. "No luck?" asked Harry.

"No luck," Dean replied. "How about you?"

"Success."

"Who'd you ask?"

"Get yourself a date and I'll tell you."

"Any suggestions?"

"Padma might go with you. As soon as word gets through the grapevine that I'm taken, girls will start to say yes more."

"You really think so? It's only been about three hours since the ball was announced."

"And I'm the number one bachelor in all of Hogwarts. I think the only other person who could compete with me would be—"

"The Weasley twins?"

"No, Cedric Diggory. He's probably the most attractive male I've ever seen, not that I'm into that kind of thing, and he's really good at spells. I think he's the top sixth year."

"Really? Huh. Well, I think I'll try Padma then. See you later."

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

"Harry, is it true you already have a date?" asked Parvati desperately.

"Yes, I do," replied Harry. Parvati wailed a little, and Harry just ignored her.

"Who is it?"

"Can't tell you."

"Tell me."

"Then the whole school will know, and my date would prefer it if we kept our identities quiet until the ball."

"Tell me."

"No."

"Fine, be that way." Parvati stalked off, and Harry returned to his potions homework. It was already done, he was just adding the finishing touches—several spells that gently compelled the person grading it to give it a higher grade. Sirius had taught him this trick after Harry had asked him how he had done so well on his assignments. He was just adding the final spell when Padma and Dean came up, arm in arm, and sat beside him.

"So, I hear you already have a date," said Padma. "Who's the lucky girl?"

"An anonymous one," replied Harry. "I would appreciate it if you curved Parvati back from asking me over and over. I may just say I'm going with Snape to throw everyone off the trail. Or maybe you could spread some rumors about me going with about twenty or so different girls."

"I can do that," promised Padma.

"Thanks, Padma. I know I can count on you." Harry stood up, his homework finished, and returned to his dormitory. On the way, he was ambushed by one Ginny Weasley. He raised an eyebrow, and she stuttered out, "W-would y-you l-like t-t-t-to g-go to the b-b-ball w-with m-me?"

"Sorry," apologized Harry, "I'm going with someone else."

"Oh," said Ginny sadly, "sorry for bothering you." She fled, and Harry watched her go. He needed to do something that would stop people from asking him out. It would prevent him from having to say no every time. Brightening up, he ran to the lake, and picked out stones from the lake floor. He cast three charms over each of them, and they changed into buttons that you could pin on your robes.

Each button had three different forms, and once activated, could only be changed by the wearer. The first said "Available" in bright green letters against a blue background. The second said "Taken" in red letters against a yellow background. The final one said the name of a person in white letters, against a pink background. Hopefully, this would make it easier for people who weren't going with someone yet to get a date.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

_"Neville, are you okay?" _Hermione asked, gasping for breath.

_"Hermione, what are you doing here?"_

_"Getting you out. Now hold still."_ Hermione cut off Neville's handcuffs with a laser. He had been chained in a cell after the _Phoenix_ had been captured. Apparently, Hermione had managed to escape from her cell, and was now freeing him.

_"Hermione, where are Susan and Ophelia?"_

_"I'm not sure, but I know what we need to do next. Follow me, and keep quiet."_ Hermione and Neville exited his cell, and crept along the dungeon. They reached an intersection, and Hermione chose the left path. Hermione navigated them around the enemy ship, while Neville was completely lost as to what Hermione was doing.

_"Hermione, what exactly are we doing?"_

_"We're sabotaging their ship. I'm looking for the engine room."_

_"What about Ophelia and Susan?"_

_"We'll set it up so that we can—"_

_"What're we doing?"_ Ophelia's voice came from behind Neville, and they both jumped.

_"Ophelia, don't do that!"_ shout whispered Hermione.

_"Susan, don't go scaring Hermione, okay?"_

_"Fine,"_ grumbled Susan.

_"So, back to my earlier question, what're we doing?"_

_"We're sabotaging their ship. Do you know where the engine room is?"_

_"Oh, yeah, we passed that on our way here. I set some charges up there. They're on channel 2∆. You'd think they'd take the time to search us."_

_"They searched me,"_ said Neville.

_"Maybe they're just __chivalrous?"_ suggested Susan. _"I wasn't searched either."_

_"Whatever the reasons, we need to keep moving. Neville, you saw where the _Phoenix _was docked, didn't you?"_

_"Yeah. Follow me."_ The four of them returned along the way they came, until Neville took a left turn instead of a right turn. Sure enough, the _Phoenix_ was attached to the enemy ship, but sentries were guarding the passage between the ships. Ophelia gave Hermione a look, and Hermione nodded carefully. A few more silent words passed between them.

_"Okay,"_ said Ophelia,_ "here's the plan. Hermione will activate the photon reflector on her uniform, and sneak behind the sentries. Neville, you'll create a distraction, and allow Susan and I to get back on the ship, which should be clear of enemies."_

_"How do I get back, then?"_

Hermione gave him a pencil. _"When this beeps three times, it'll bring you back to the ship. Don't lose it. It took a lot of work to get that to work."_

_"Gotcha. When do I make the distraction?"_

Hermione gave him another pencil. _"When this beeps three times, throw it down the hallway a bit. It'll set off a smoke bomb, and you should be able to make the sentries follow you."_

Neville nodded, and put the second pencil behind his ear. _"I'll see you three later, then."_

_"Wait,"_ said Hermione, _"I've got some extra charges for you. Drop these around the ship, okay?"_

_"Okay,__"_ Neville replied.

The girls nodded, and Hermione disappeared from view. Neville snuck around the sentries, dropping a few more pencils around the area, waiting until Hermione gave him the signal to throw the smoke bomb. He ended up waiting five minutes, and then the pencil beeped three times. He threw it down the corridor as far as he could, and it went off, blasting smoke into the area, filling it with white fog. Neville heard shouting, and he decided to creep away from the blast radius.

However, he wasn't prepared to be caught from behind by another guard. Neville made sure that he had the pencil in his hands. _"Stop, or I blow this ship sky high!"_ he shouted. The guard dropped him.

_"Explain. Now,"_ ordered the guard.

_"This pencil here is rigged with explosives. I can activate it at any time. It'll also set off the other explosives I set up on the ship."_ Neville was bluffing, big time, but he needed time until Hermione could get him back. _"It'll also go off if I'm not touching it."_

The guard swore, and Neville made sure that no one was behind him. _"Fine—what do you want, kid?"_

_"I want you all to die. That's why I have this explosive."_

_"How did you escape?"_

_"Did you seriously think that I would let you find my most important items?"_

_"I'm taking you to the boss. He needs to hear about this." _The guard was about to grab Neville to move him along, but Neville held out the pencil, pointing it at the guard's face.

_"I'm not going anywhere."_ Neville pulled out another pencil from his belt and stabbed the guard in the gut. He took off running, and just then, the pencil beeped once.

_"Stop him!"_ cried the guard. Neville saw three more guards leap after him, and Neville threw another pencil at them, striking one of them in the eye. The pencil beeped again.

Neville was still running, and the guards were still running after him. Suddenly, a door opened in front of him, and Neville gasped. This was obviously the leader. Neville threw another pencil, and the leader's eyes widened. The pencil beeped a third time.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Harry's buttons were a huge success, and he made a galleon, as he was charging two knuts per button. He sold out in three hours, and had to make more. Soon, practically everyone was wearing one, though a few abstained (mainly those from the younger three years).

Harry wasn't bugged with girls asking him left and right if he could go with them anymore. Now, they just asked who he was going with. His answer was always the same. "That's none of your business."

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Harry sat down on one of the couches in the Gryffindor common room. He had put off trying to figure out the golden egg he had recovered, but now he needed to work on it. Opening the egg, Harry was blasted by the screeching sounds emitting from the egg. Harry shut the egg tight, and put a silencing ward around himself, as to not disturb the other Gryffindors that were studying.

Opening the egg again, Harry pondered the sound he was hearing. After about a minute or so of listening, the sounds started to repeat. Harry thought hard. The egg was telling him something, but he couldn't understand it how it was coming out now. Perhaps he should try listening to it through a different medium. Harry conjured a bunch of water, surrounding the egg with it, he put his head into the sphere of water.

Immediately, he could hear a difference. The screeching had turned into a lilting melody, and Harry listened to the song for about a minute, before he had to take another breath of air. The next time he plunged his head into the sphere of water, he listened carefully to what the song was telling him.

_Come to the island of madness  
Hurry you must, or else face sadness  
Under the willow, and over the sky  
To find your lost treasure, now you must try  
The eagle will guide you on your journey  
Just follow the sun, and you'll find the key  
Then, as the crescent __moon points south  
You will enter into the deep dark mouth  
Past the Oondeen waterfall, look left  
And you will see, hiding in a cleft  
Your most precious treasure  
Now you must recover_

Harry removed himself from his water sphere and vanished it. Now he had to figure out what it meant. Maybe Sirius could help him out...

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Oliver sat back in his chair and snickered sinisterly. So far, his plan was going perfectly. All of his pieces were in place. Now all he had to do was wait. The results would be interesting, to say the least.

An owl fluttered in through the window, and he recognized the colorings immediately. He paled. He'd forgotten to put up the magical signature camouflage. Taking the letter from the owl, he quickly penned a response, and sent the owl on its way. Hopefully, no one would question why Harry Potter's owl was in contact with him, because he couldn't answer that truthfully.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

December 25th arrived, and Harry straightened his collar nervously. He wasn't really prepared for the ball, but he had to just go with the flow. He had practiced dancing for all of two minutes, until he had gotten down the steps, but now he was wishing that he would have practiced more.

But what was done was done, and he mentally asked Daphne what she though of his appearance. _"You look dashing,"_ she assured him. _"Now go fetch your date."_

Harry walked out of the boys' dormitory and headed out into the halls. They were decorated even more than previous years, and you had to be careful watching out for mistletoe, because it was everywhere. Harry arrived by a statue of Hermando the Hysterical, where he had agreed to meet Fleur.

Fleur was already there, and when Harry saw her, he breathed in sharply. She was wearing an elegant gold dress, and her hair was pinned up in the back. She had little makeup on, but she was simply beautiful. She saw Harry, and smiled. "Ah, Harry, you are here."

"Fleur," said Harry. He had to think a moment before complimenting her. "You look stunning."

"Zank you. You, as well, look astounding." Harry accepted the compliment graciously and took her arm. Harry was silent as they entered the Great Hall. Fleur was similarly quiet.

The Great Hall was the most decorated of all of Hogwarts. The long tables had been removed, and instead, round tables were clustered off to one end of the hall, leaving about half of the area for the dance floor. Twelve Christmas tree lined the walls, and tinsel adorned the ceiling.

The ball started out with a meal, and both Harry and Fleur sat at the head table, where the Champions and judges were seated. Fleur had started up a conversation with Parvati, Victor's date, leaving Harry to talk to the stern Bulgarian. There wasn't much to talk about, so when the menus popped up, Harry gladly chose to start eating. Harry chose a roast pork meal, and Fleur took a chicken dish. However, Fleur couldn't hold a knife and fork at the same time, so Harry cut her meat up for her.

She thanked him and ate delicately. Harry found it hard not to watch her, but managed somehow. After dinner, the orchestra started a classical piece, which the Champions were to dance to. Harry took Fleur's hand and waist, and started dancing. The Weasley twins were, surprisingly, dancing both appropriately and skillfully. Their dates, Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet, looked to be enjoying themselves, as was Parvati. Harry didn't know how she had gotten to be Victor's date, but he supposed that he had fancied her somewhat.

Soon, Professor Dumbledore stepped out onto the dance floor with Professor McGonagall, and then other couples came out onto the dance floor. Harry and Fleur danced for a good hour, until Harry was nearly falling over his own feet in exhaustion. Fleur led him out of the Great Hall—Harry was too tired to protest—and soon they arrived in an abandoned classroom. Harry hadn't ever visited this particular one before, and it was unlike any other in the school.

The floor was smooth, green grass, and overhead, stars twinkled merrily in the enchanted ceiling. It was similar to the enchantment over the Great Hall, but it was more powerful, evidenced by the amount of stars visible. Thousands upon thousands of stars shone into the room, so much so that there was no need for any other light.

"Incredible," breathed Harry.

Fleur nodded resolutely. "I found zis place about a month ago. I have been by here every night since. Ze stars are absolutely amazing. I've never seen ze likes of zis before."

"I haven't either," admitted Harry. Together they sat down on the grass. Harry watched the stars in fascination. He began to make patterns in the stars, and he pointed each one out to Fleur. She pointed out ones she had made, and soon they raced to see who could make the next new constellation.

Eventually, Fleur fell asleep, he head laying on his shoulder. Her breathing was light and smooth, and Harry felt each breath rise and fall rhythmically. The stars above still shone brightly, and Harry started counting them. He forgot how many he had reached when he fell asleep himself.

* * *

**A/N: Well, that's another chapter down. Next chapter, the second task. As you can probably tell, it's a bit different than in canon, but I wanted to try and see if I could come up with a more watchable task. The second two in canon aren't really all that exciting. I mean, you just sit and watch the lake, and then you just sit and watch the hedges.**

**But enough of my ramblings. Some of you have guessed that this is a Harry/Fleur fic. My answer? No comment. You'll see soon enough.**


	15. Dementae Insulam

**Chapter 15: Dementae Insulam**

Harry woke up on the morning of the second task, refreshed and ready for the day's adventure. He dressed quickly, pulling on some trousers and a sweatshirt. He needed to be prepared for the task—he still didn't know exactly what he was supposed to be doing. Crouch would probably explain.

Ron was snoring obnoxiously in the bunk beside him. He still didn't believe what Harry had said about not entering the Tournament, so Harry was ignoring him. Harry slipped on his socks and headed down the stairs to the Great Hall, where he sat down at the Gryffindor table and ate a hearty breakfast of french toast and sausage.

The task was scheduled to start at nine, and as it was only seven, and on a Saturday at that, he was one of the few in the Great Hall. Draco Malfoy was one of those. When he saw Harry looking at him, he sneered back. Harry returned to his sausage, knowing that not acknowledging him infuriated him, so that's what he did.

He was just finishing up his breakfast when Fleur entered and sat down beside him. "Ready for the task?" asked Harry as she piled up her plate.

"As ready as I will ever be," she replied. Harry had given her some english lessons to help her speak without an accent, and she had picked it up quite quickly, which made it easier to understand her. Harry waited for Fleur to finish up patiently. She had recently gotten the hang of eating one handed, so Harry no longer had to cut up her meat for her.

"I'm ready now," she said, standing up, taking Harry's hand and pulling him up after her.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

"The second task is relatively simple," said Crouch. "All you have to do is retrieve one of these."

He pulled out of his cloak a small golden ball that somewhat resembled the snitch. "There are four balls hidden somewhere on the island where we will be taking you."

"You mean this isn't taking place at Hogwarts?" asked Fred.

"Precisely. Originally we had a task planned that would take place in the Black Lake, but it was scrapped after both Mr Weaselys were chosen as Champions. Now, you each have a unique rhyme that was given to you in the golden egg. Follow the clues, otherwise you will get lost, and we can't claim responsibility if you aren't seen for three years."

"So follow the clues, and don't get lost. All right, I'm ready," declared Harry.

"Then go through the portal we have set up to the island. There will be several aurors on the island, and if you need help, just send up sparks with your wand. However, if you do, you will be removed from the event, you will be unable to try again and your score will reflect that. Oh, before you go, each of you take this." He handed each of them a bracelet. "This will monitor your condition and may help us to get your exact location at any time. Do not, under any circumstances, remove this bracelet."

Harry placed the bracelet on his left wrist. It clamped on tightly. "Everyone ready?" When all five of them nodded, Crouch opened a curtain that had been hanging behind him, revealing a slightly green surface.

Harry shrugged and went on through first. The pale green surface warped around him, and he felt himself shoot off somewhere, encased inside a magic bubble. Then he felt a constriction around his left wrist, and with it, a squeezing sensation, as if he were being squished down and compacted. Moments later he stepped out of the other end of the portal, his feet meeting the hot sand below. Harry stepped out of the way of the portal as the twins stepped through. Fleur, Victor, and Crouch joined them seconds later, Crouch dusting off the sand on his robes that been thrown up with a gust of wind.

"Here we are," announced Crouch. "Remember, whoever gets their ball first wins. There will be another portal near where the balls are."

He turned around, leaving through the portal they had come through, and it disappeared after Crouch left. Harry took a good look at where he was. All he could tell was that they were on a tropical island somewhere, evidenced by the heat from the sun overhead. The sounds and smell of the sea that he was so familiar with wafted over him, while the forest in front of him beckoned him toward it.

He looked at the forest carefully. The first clue in his rhyme was that he had to go under a willow. As he couldn't see any willows nearby, he conjured up several birds and told them to find a willow tree. Fleur saw what he was doing and conjured up her own birds, but he couldn't hear what she told them to look for. The twins went along the beach, heading for the mountains further along the coast, and Victor, after transfiguring himself into something intelligible, dove into the ocean, leaving Harry and Fleur on the beach alone, waiting for their scouts to return. Ten minutes later, one of Harry's birds returned, twittering excitedly. Harry gave Fleur an encouraging look, before following the bird into the forest. Just as he was leaving, he thought he saw the sand shift a little behind him, but dismissed it as nothing.

It took about fifteen minutes to get to where the willow tree was on foot. The trees were mainly oaks, which surprised Harry a little, as he had been expecting more tropical plants, but he didn't really care. The willow soon came into view, and Harry gasped as he saw the full size of it. The tree was well over 200 feet tall—Harry didn't know why he didn't see it from the beach.

Seeing the willow, he vanished the bird, and kept hiking through the dense underbrush of the forest. He continued until he was standing in front of the massive tree. Throughly, he inspected the tree for any odd markings or areas where he could get under it. Under one of the gigantic roots, he found a small crack in the dirt. Excavating it for about ten seconds, he discovered a narrow tunnel leading under the willow. Looking about for anything that might come back and bite him, he found nothing. As he was about to step into the tunnel, Harry thought he saw four stags in the edge of his vision, each a different color—one gold, one red, one purple, and one blue.

Clearing his head of the stags, Harry crawled into the tunnel, noticing that he had to crawl on hands and knees in order to get through it. He continued crawling for about half and hour, until the tunnel opened up and he exited on the other side. His jaw nearly dropped. Pure white snow covered the area, untouched. Harry shivered as a sharp bitingly cold wind blasted through the area. Conjuring a bunch of clothing, he covered himself with a coat and sweater, and ventured forth.

The snow crunched beneath his boots, and for a while that was the only sound Harry heard, other than the occasional gust of wind. A loud snap startled him, and he turned to see...nothing. Harry frowned, and dismissed it as just paranoia. He took a few more steps, and then the sound came again, this time from directly behind him. Harry spun around, but, again, he saw nothing. Now somewhat scared, he activated his mage vision.

What he saw stunned him. The entire area had an enchantment, one that Harry couldn't identify. The color was primarily blue, so he knew it wasn't anything particularly harmful. Around the bracelet was a variation on the enchantment over the island. However, with everything having the enchantment, meant that whatever was nearby should also have something on it. Harry searched his field of vision for movement, since he couldn't pinpoint the creature.

Then his right shoulder flared in pain. Harry looked over at his shoulder and nearly fainted. His shoulder was nearly cut in two, and blood was gushing from the wound. Taking one look at his shoulder, Harry knew something else was wrong. He shouldn't have been bleeding as much as he was.

Wincing in pain, Harry decided to take some action. He conjured a magical barrier that wouldn't let anything in whatsoever. Then he started chanting some healing spells to close his wound. The wound sealed up, and Harry examined it closely. The blood that was covering his shirt looked odd; it didn't have the enchainment that everything else had. It appeared larger than what it should have been.

Unsure of why that was, Harry looked through his barrier to see if he could see what had attacked him. After maybe a minute of looking, Harry caught a glimpse of something else that didn't have the enchantment on it. Now knowing what to look for, Harry continued following it around as if zipped here and there, as if it was waiting for Harry to emerge from behind his barrier.

Finally, it stopped moving around, and Harry got a good look at it. When he saw it, he shivered in fright. While it had only been mentioned in one obscure book, he recognized its features. Before him floated a Stakroart. In the book, it had been described as a flying squirrel that flew about, and when it found its prey, it would chase it down and kill it with its bladed wings. It was immune to most forms of magic, and fiercer than nesting dragons. The creature waiting for him to drop his guard was almost exactly how the book depicted it—except for its size. The book stated that a Starkroart was similar in size to a regular squirrel, but the one swishing its tail menacingly was almost four times as large.

According to the book, the squirrels severely disliked fire—the one magic that was capable of harming it. However, Harry didn't know much about fire magic—his preferred element was water. This was when Daphne butted in. _"How's it going? I thought I heard you scream."_

_"I just got my shoulder almost cut in half by a giant Starkroart. Know any fire magic?"_

_"What? The great and powerful Harry Potter doesn't know much about fire?"_

_"No. I like water."_

_"Course you do. Do you remember when Voldemort tried to take me over last?"_

_"Yeah, that was back in first year. Didn't you drive him off with a fire spell?"_

_"I did, and I remember the incantation. Say _'Tanio, am y gwynt yn galw. Llosgi, ar gyfer yr awyr yn anadlu. Fflamau, yn codi i fyny ac yn llosgi, er y gwynt yn galw.'_"_

_"__Tanio, am y gwynt yn galw. Llosgi, ar gyfer yr awyr yn anadlu. Fflamau, yn codi i fyny ac yn llosgi, er y gwynt yn galw,"_ Harry chanted. directing his magic at the squirrel-like creature. Fire burst forth from his wand, and Harry quickly dropped the barrier, lest he get burned by his own fire.

The Starkroart screeched in pain when the emerald-green fire caught on its fur. Harry continued pouring his energy into the spell, until nothing remained of the Starkroat but ash. Exhaling in relief, Harry reexamined his wound. It was sealed up, but too much exertion, and the wound would reopen. Shrugging off the mild pain that still lingered in his shoulder, he continued walking onward, following the direction that he had originally set off in.

Then he reached the end of the snow, and his jaw dropped again. He was looking over the edge of the jutting edge of a cliff. Clouds hung nearby, and Harry ventured a look down. His stomach twisted as he realized how high up he was. He couldn't even see the ground, he was so high off the ground.

This, however, confused him, as he had just left a tropical beach, hiked through a temperate forest, and had crossed a snowy plain. How was he this high up? Deciding not to think about it, he looked about for a way across the sky. Seeing none, he conjured a glider and grabbed hold, jumping off the cliff before he could convince himself that what he was doing was a bad idea.

Ten minutes of flying later, he was thoroughly convinced that his idea had not only been bad, but it had been terrible. He wasn't finding anything whatsoever, and his hands and shoulder were getting tired. Then an idea struck him. The rhyme had said that he needed to go over the sky, and he was just attempting to go through it. Using a bit of magic to propel himself upwards, he held on tightly as the glider ascended further into the heavens.

Five minutes later, his thinking was rewarded with the sight of a giant eagle. He flew upward until he he was flying alongside it. The eagle was enormous—it's head was larger than Harry—and it was flying in a particular direction. Harry followed beside the eagle as it continued flying, upward and onward. As the two of them flew along, Harry noticed that the eagle's eyes were scaled over, and the eagle would tilt it's head here and there, just slightly. Harry thought about it for a moment, until he realized that the eagle was blind. Eventually, the eagle led him to a rocky cliff where it landed in a nest. Six large eagle eggs lay in the nest, and Harry carefully ignored it; he didn't want the eagle thinking that he was after its eggs.

Harry looked up to find the sun, and he saw that it was directly to his left. Stepping around the nest cautiously, he climbed along the cliffside. It was easy climbing, and Harry soon found that the top edge of the cliff was getting lower and lower. When the path Harry was climbing along and the top of the cliff met, Harry clambered onto the top of the cliff, and saw a crescent moon engraved into the rock. Remembering the part from the rhyme, Harry used the point-me spell to check his direction, and found south. He continued along the uneven rock until he saw another rock shaped like a crescent moon.

Directly under the second moon rock was an entrance to a cave. Harry stepped inside slowly. He didn't want anything surprising him like the Starkroart had. A waterfall was flowing nearby, evidenced by the sound of crashing water. He followed the sound—it was his next clue. Soon, the waterfall came into view. It was flowing into a large pool of water, and a large ornamented sea serpent was carved into the rock around the edge of the pool. Harry immediately looked left, and his terror struck him.

Fleur was lying on a rock nearby, curled up into a ball, her right arm wrapped around her knees protectively. She was bleeding from multiple wounds all over, and she was barely breathing. Harry ran over as fast as he could. He had just about reached her when she disappeared. Blinking back tears, Harry sat down on the cold hard wet rock, depressed.

_"Harry, it wasn't your fault,"_ said Daphne, after a moment had passed.

_"Yes it was,"_ snapped Harry.

_"How?"_

_"I didn't reach her in time."_

_"You didn't know she was hurt." _Harry didn't reply. _"Don't blame yourself for things that you couldn't have stopped, or things that would have turned out the same anyway,"_ chastised Daphne. Again, Harry didn't reply.

If it wasn't for a drop of water splashing into a puddle of water, he would have died right there. As it was, he only barely escaped from the serpent's gaping jaws. Reflecting in the puddle where Harry had sat by, the sea serpent had appeared, and only by rolling out of the way did Harry survive. Pulling out his wand, Harry backpedaled, tripping over a rock and falling to the cavern floor. The sea serpent reared its head and struck at Harry again. Harry rolled out of the way again, but not knowing his surroundings very well, he rolled into the pool of water.

Harry knew he only had seconds to react and transformed into his animagus form. He couldn't use magic that well in it yet, but he could still do some. He contracted into his tough shell just as the sea serpent bite down at him. The serpent's teeth bounced off his hard back and Harry retaliated with a lightning spell.

Electricity burst throughout the cave, and Harry winced a little when the serpent struck him on his tender underside as it thrashed about, its muscles stimulated from the lightning. Harry swum to the surface and transformed back into a human. While being a sea turtle was nice, he didn't want to deal with the sea serpent anymore.

He looked back at where Fleur had been, and he nearly smacked himself on his forehead. Sitting there was the golden ball that Crouch had showed him hours earlier. He strode over and examined it under mage sight. The golden ball had the same blue enchantment as everything else, and it had another complex maroon enchantment. Harry noticed the same maroon on his bracelet, and complimented the organizers in his head.

With his mage vision still on, he turned around and threw himself to the right. The sea serpent wasn't down yet. He drew his wand again and was about to cast another spell when he ducked as a second sea serpent attacked him from behind. Harry took a moment to see how many sea serpents there were, and nearly freaked. In the bottom of the pool, there was a nest of over six hundred, and while he had killed the original one, now the eight strongest sea serpents were in the room, ready to kill him.

Wand in hand, Harry cast the same lightning spell, and the blue energy blasted throughout the room, frying five of the serpents immediately. The other three just became more enraged and they launched one attack together from three different directions. Harry jumped straight up and avoided two of the serpents, but one of them struck his right shoulder.

Harry cried out in pain, and used the lightning spell reflexively. It was a really bad idea. The serpent fried instantly, but Harry also got a dose of high voltage from the spell. Harry contracted into a ball from the electricity contracting his muscles. However, the two other serpents weren't done with him yet, and attacked again.

Having to overcome both the electricity running havoc on his nerves and the poison form the sea serpent's bite slowed Harry down a lot, but he managed to dodge one of the two remaining serpents and catch it with a powered down version of the lightning spell. The final serpent, however, struck him in the right shoulder again, and Harry had to stop himself from using the lightning spell again. Instead, he blasted the serpent's eyes out.

The serpent roared in pain and writhed on the ground. Harry took the break form the fight to use a healing spell on his shoulder, using his left hand with his wand, as he could barely fell his elbow, let alone perform a complex maneuver with his wand. The serpent finally got over its pain and readied it for another attack. Harry lifted his wand again and cast the lightning spell for a final time.

The serpent died, its screeching ringing in Harry's ears. He looked at the pool, where below, hundreds of serpents were waiting to attack. He used a spell to mold the rock around it and close it off, preventing any more serpents from emerging into the cavern.

That was when he noticed a similar portal like the one they had used to get to the island. He staggered to it, barely managing to get through before he collapsed on the floor in front of the judges. His last image before falling into unconsciousness was Padma running up to him and shaking him.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Harry awoke to find himself in the hospital tent, his right shoulder bandaged heavily. Blinking away the blurriness from his eyes, he saw Fleur sitting next to him, anxiously conversing with one of the Weasley twins—most likely George. "Harry!" she exclaimed, upon seeing him wake up.

"Fleur? George?" Harry said, wincing in pain as he sat up.

"You are not ready to sit up yet," chided Fleur, pushing him back down on the mattress. Harry complied, sighing.

"How'd you do?" asked Harry.

"I got a 42, but zat doesn't matter-"

"Yes, it does. What about you, Fred?"

"You called me George earlier," the Weasley pointed out.

"So? You switch names you might as well call yourselves Gred and Forge."

Gred—actually, it was Forge—snickered, but Fleur just harrumphed. "Gred and I got a 39. Victor got a 38, and you received a 32."

"How'd I get that?"

"By how much you were injured."

"I think I got off lucky just surviving. What was the hardest thing you had to face?"

"Well, Victor said he faced a small sea serpent," said Forge—no, wait, it was Fred, "and Fleur here faced down an Arrikadian Sandcrawler, but all we Weasleys got to face was a heffalump. Nasty creatures, those. Just as bad as woozles."

"How about a giant Starkroart and nine sea serpents?"

"Nine sea serpents?" breathed Fleur. "And you're actually alive?"

"Well, only two of them bit me-"

"You got bitten by two sea serpents!?" cried Gred—no, uh, oh whatever—Weasley twin 1.

"I electrocuted them all."

"How big were they?" asked Fleur, who most likely didn't actually want to know the answer.

"The biggest one was about fifty feet long, but the shortest was about twenty-seven."

"Why were you facing so many? I doubt if the rest of us champions could face nine regular sized sea serpents, let alone so many large ones."

"I have no idea. Well, actually, I think it was when I disturbed their nest."

"You disturbed a sea serpent nest? You'd be ze first to survive zat!"

"It was on accident. I was facing the big one inside this really deep pool, and I used a lightning spell, and it must have set off the sea serpent nest down below. From what I sensed, there were probably about six hundred of them, though most of them were likely just hatched." Fleur fainted. Weasley twin 2, who had just entered, managed to catch her, raised an eyebrow at Harry.

"What did you say?" asked that red-haired person.

"Just that he managed to disturb a sea serpent nest that housed over six hundred of the things and survive," replied other red-haired person.

That red-haired person fainted too, and Victor, who had just come it, caught him while that red-haired person was still holding onto Fleur, who was still unconscious. "Vy am I always the last person to do this?" lamented Victor as he carefully set that red-haired person down and other red-haired person sat Fleur back on her chair in a slumped position.

"Maybe because of all the stuff I get into," responded Harry. "Today, I faced nine sea serpents and a giant Starkroart."

Victor paled visibly. "Don't you go fainting on me!" ordered Harry. Victor shook his head shakily and sat down, his hand clutching his heart.

"There vas a Starkroart on that island?"

"A giant one," affirmed Harry.

"Then ve should never have been anyvere near that place."

"Why? It didn't take that much to beat it, even if it did take a chunk out of my shoulder."

"You vere lucky to even be here now. Starkroarts are rare, mostly because of how long it takes them to procreate, but vereever they appear, death follows."

"It was pretty fast."

"Then you were lucky it was underestimating you. They are the fourth most dangerous creature in existence for a reason."

"I'm not remembering the list," said red-haired person.

"First up is the Nundu; second, the Dementors; third, the Atlantic Sea Serpent; fourth, the Starkroarts; and fifth, the Anubian Crocodile," stated Victor. "Each is deadly for different reasons."

"What are the markings of an Atlantic Sea Serpent?" asked Harry.

"They are primarily dark green on top and a light teal on the bottom. Vy?"

"Actually, I would say the back is more of a dark aquamarine," corrected Harry. "The nuance is slight, but it's there."

"Don't tell me you faced one today," ordered Victor.

"Okay, I won't," promised Harry.

"You did, didn't you?"

"I can neither confirm nor deny your suspicions. However, I can tell you that I did not face one Atlantic Sea Serpent today."

"Thank goodness."

"I killed nine." Victor fainted. Harry turned to red-haired person. "Well, aren't you going to faint, too?"

"No, unless you have something else you can shock me with," replied George.

"Okay, then I won't tell you about the giant eagle that I flew alongside that was bigger than this room ten times over."

George nodded. "Okay, that wouldn't do it, but it came pretty close."

"It was also blind."

George fainted.

Madam Pomfrey came in a moment later. "Goodness! What happened here?"

"They all fainted, ma'am. I think they had a bit of a shock. Best to put them on a bed and thoroughly check on them. Don't want them fainting at random times during the third task or during classes."

"That would indeed be prudent, Mr. Potter. Now, you have some potions to take." Harry groaned, reaching for the dreaded bottles of dirty socks and fermented vomit.

* * *

**A/N: Yay! Another chapter down! You know, when I started writing this, I had no idea it would grow to be like this at all. At most, It was a small exploration of an idea I had, and it's grown into the largest story I've ever written. Maybe one of my other ones will surpass it someday, but this one will always hold something special to me, even though, admittedly, I didn't enjoy writing some of the earlier parts. I hope the comedy isn't too over the top. I wanted to end this chapter on a high note, rather than on a low one. Perhaps next week I can get you guys a cliffhanger...this pause is really awkward. Anyway; review if you wish, pm me if you want, and I will see you all next week.**


	16. Corollarium Reperio

**Chapter 16: Corollarium Reperio**

"Professor Dumbledore, I have a question regarding the points given out for the second task," said Harry uncertainly, the day after the second task.

"Go ahead, Harry," replied Dumbledore.

"Well, not be overly critical, but I don't think I received the right amount of points."

"Why not?"

"It has to do with what I faced compared to the other Champions. From what I recall, Fleur faced an Arrikadian Sandcrawler, Victor defeated a baby Atlantic sea serpent, and the Weasley twins brought down a heffalump, though I'm not sure what that is."

"A heffalump is rather like an elephant, but you would come to grievous harm to underestimate it."

"However, I had to not only battle a Starkroart, but nine Atlantic sea serpents."

"Harry, there weren't any Starkroarts or Atlantic sea serpents planned for the second task."

"Then why did I face them then?"

"I'm not sure. You were supposed to fight a screech of Mayan Vampire Bats."

"There wasn't anything remotely like a Mayan Vampire Bat inside my cavern. In fact, I nearly died from the sea serpent wounds."

"Harry, I am sorry to inform you, but you cannot receive any more points than what you were given yesterday. But I will bring up the matter of both the Starkroart and the sea serpents to the committee."

"Oh, did I mention that it wasn't a normal sized Starkroart?"

"No, but that would be understandable. Was it about four times larger than it was supposed to be?"

"Yes, it was. How did you know?"

"Because of how the arena was set up. I'm surprised you didn't figure it out."

"Shrinking charm?" guessed Harry.

"Precisely. Starkroarts are immune to most magics other than fire, so the shrinking charm wouldn't have affected it."

"So the arena was just fabricated through magic? I suppose that's why you used that particular portal. It actually linked us to the arena and kept the shrinking charm on us. It couldn't be undone with any simple magic, and we weren't allowed to take it off."

"Quite right. Now, if you will excuse me, I will have to talk to Barty about this." Dumbledore strode off, a serious look on his face that didn't look normal for the usually jovial old wizard. Harry sighed and headed toward the library, where the Patil twins were waiting for him.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

_"Hermione, are you sure about this?"_ asked Neville.

_"Positive," _replied Hermione. _"There's no other valid explanation. Those were trained soldiers, and they were after us, though I'm not exactly sure why."_

_"Maybe it has to do with the Yrgrid Expedition,"_ suggested Susan.

_"But that was clear on the other side of the galaxy!"_ exclaimed Hermione.

_"So?"_ said Susan. _"We've done plenty of other fantastic things, like when we took out the Trewex Maximine. Maybe these people don't like what we're doing, and so they're coming after us with their ships."_

_"What does this mean for us?"_ asked Neville.

_"It means I need to start on my quantum thrusting capacitor, as well as the photon accelerator beam cannon,"_ said Hermione. _"Neville, do you want to start maintenance on the _Phoenix_? We need it up and running yesterday."_

_"I can get on that. Should I start with the Atomic Booster Engines or the Shield Generators?"_

_"Why don't you start on the ABE,"_ said Hermione. _"Ophelia, could you work on the Shield Generators?"_

_"Sure,"_ agreed Ophelia. _"Susan, what will you be doing?"_

_"I'll be doing a complete rebooting of the computer systems. Then, after that's done, I'll look through the enemy data files I filched from their database. I'll send over the relevant stuff to your lab, Hermione, and I'll give you the weapons recognition software, Neville. After that, a sandwich sounds good, but then I'm not sure what."_

_"Alright, sounds good everyone. Let's get to work!"_

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

In the middle of March, during breakfast, their meal was interrupted by the appearance of seventeen armored goblins, dressed fully in striking golden breastplates and fiery plumed helmets. Dumbledore stood up immediately. "To what pleasure do we owe you presence today, Ragnok?" he asked.

"We are here for one Draco Malfoy, heir of the Malfoy line," replied the head goblin. "He has been stealing from Gringotts, and we require payment, whether in gold, or blood." The goblin leered menacingly.

"I have done no such thing!" shouted Malfoy.

"Draco Malfoy," stated the goblin dangerously, "you are accused of the theft of 7,432 galleons from vault 326, and henceforth, we require repayment in galleons double that of what was stolen. Artifacts worth over 300 galleons may be substituted for actual gold. What say you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" exclaimed Malfoy.

"Then prepare to pay with your blood, human," spat the goblin.

"Ragnok," said Dumbledore, "perhaps this isn't the place to deal with this. There are children here. If you were to move this to Gringotts, then perhaps you would be able to deal with this quietly. You might also be able to contact his father, as he is still a minor."

The goblin grinned. "You are correct. Please, excuse our interruption. Heir Malfoy, if you would follow me, we can settle this." Draco slowly got up from the Slytherin table and walked out the doors of the Great Hall, the goblin warriors escorting him out on either side. Harry, who had seen the gleam in Ragnok's eye, excused himself from the table, and exited the Great Hall from a different door. He snuck around a different way, and caught up to the goblin entourage. Slipping under his invisibility cloak, he asked Daphne, _"Do you suppose this is what happened to my anchor stone?"_

_"Probably. But were there really 7,000 odd galleons in that account?"_

_"I think there was more. I'm not sure exactly what's going on. I'm following them. One moment, I'll leave an illusion of myself behind."_ Harry cast a quick illusion, and 'Harry' walked off toward the library. The real Harry trailed the goblins until they reached the edge of the Hogwarts wards and they activated their permaportkeys, which took them back to Gringotts, leaving Harry to apparate there himself.

He discretely followed the goblins to a small room enveloped in heavy wards. Harry managed to sneak in between two of the goblin guards. He cast several anti-locating charms on himself, and wove another illusion on top of his invisibility cloak, adding anti-scent and silencing charms to his array. One final spell to hide all of his magic, and he was near unfindable. Of course, with the right kind of vision, Harry would stick out like a sore thumb, but that couldn't be helped.

Lucius Malfoy strode in two minutes later, and his usually calm collected expression was now filled with worry. "Draco, what is going on?"

"I don't know, father," said Draco.

"Ragnok, I demand an explanation!" said Lucius coldly.

"Your son Draco has stolen over 7,000 galleons from vault 326. We simply are requiring payment."

"Vault 326?" Lucius paled considerably. "Draco, have you ever stolen anything from Gringotts, ever?"

"No, father."

"Then this matter is settled. You have the wrong boy. If you will excuse me-" As Lucius turned, he was faced with the ends of goblin spears.

"Draco is guilty. He has the evidence in his pocket right now."

Lucius looked back at Draco, whose face was turned whiter than it usually was, which was saying something. Lucius raised an eyebrow, and Draco slowly pulled a rock out of his pocket. Harry recognized it as the rock he had used as the anchor stone in his prank against Gringotts. "Draco," said Lucius evenly, "what is that rock?"

"I found it in my pocket in Diagon Alley years ago. I accidentally shook it one day, and some galleons fell out. I used the money from the rock instead of the allowance you gave me," Draco admitted.

"And thus he is guilty. We require payment of of 7,432 galleons to vault 326, with an additional payment of 400 galleons compensation," stated Ragnok.

"Preposterous!" exclaimed Lucius as he grabbed the top of his cane. "You are blaming my son over something he had no control over!"

"Be careful, Lord Malfoy. If you draw your wand here, your account is forfeit and we have legal license to kill you on the spot."

Lucius's face, which had been white before, was now red with anger. "You see here-" he began, but he was cut off by a gentle prodding from one of the goblin's spears.

"Lucius Malfoy," said Ragnok, "do not provoke us any further, or we will respond in kind."

"The Minister will hear of this!" promised Lucius.

"Yes, he will hear how his most generous benefactor died trying to weasel out of a couple thousand galleon payment from the goblins." This was the last straw for Lucius, who drew his wand, banishing the goblins with a sweep of his wand. Harry pulled out his own wand and prepared to defend himself if it became necessary.

Lucius was about to cast another spell, this time aiming for Ragnok, but stopped when he saw the spear point held under his son's neck. Snarling, he cast a vanishing spell on the spear handle, and the spear point clattered to the ground. Lucius began casting more spells, most of them reductor curses, and was destroying the room. One reductor caught Ragnok in the chest, and it blew through his armor, killing him near instantly.

The remaining seven goblins charged Lucius all at once, but he just cast a wide range cutting curse, and it slashed the throats of each goblin, their purple blood spilling onto the already bloody marble floor. Harry, who decided now was a better time than ever, intervened. He cast a spell at Lucius seemingly from behind, but he had just developed a new technique, which bent the spells, enabling them to form parabolic arcs rather than the straight line most spells flew at.

Lucius managed to block his first and second spells, but dodged the third, and in doing so, gave Harry more ammunition. He cast cutting curse after cutting curse, weaving them around Lucius, flying by him at all angles. Harry aimed them all at Lucius, so that they caught him all at the same time.

Lucius collapsed to the floor, blood flooding the ground, his vacant expression pale and frightened. Draco was quivering in the corner, and Harry cast an obliviation charm on him, erasing the memories of his father's last few minutes and the fight that had ensued. Leaving the room with an illusion, so that it didn't seem like the door had actually opened, he left Gringotts, apparating back to the Hogwarts grounds.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Harry tried not to think about what he had done to Lucius, but it kept coming back to him over the course of the next week. Lucius's expression of fear and then the sound of his body collapsing on the floor echoed in Harry's dreams. Eventually, he talked to Daphne about it. She comforted him, and rebuked his claims of being a monster. She reminded him of what he had done to protect Fleur, and that snapped Harry out of his foul mood.

Weeks passed, until Harry received a message from Ludo Bagman, saying that they needed to come down to the Quidditch field one might in May. Harry was the first one there, and he waited patiently for the others to arrive. The Weasley twins came down next, and Harry talked with them about one of their pranks that they'd played on Snape the previous morning. Bagman, Victor, and Fleur came down together, and Bagman explained what the third task was to be.

Around them, small hedges had been planted, and all they had to do was to get to the Tri-Wizard cup, which would take them back to the stage. "You will enter the maze, for that is what it is, in order of your point count, which means the Wealey boys will go first, Harry second, Krum third, and Miss Delacour third. Any questions?"

When no one said anything, Bagman smiled and left the field. The Weasley twins followed him a moment later, and Victor soon joined the twins as they headed up the stairs into the entrance hall. Harry was left standing outside on the Quidditch pitch with Fleur as the sun began to set in the cool spring breeze. Purple and orange filled the bottom of the sky, and the dark blue hue contrasting it stirred something inside Harry.

"It's beautiful out tonight, isn't it?" said Harry.

"It is," agreed Fleur. Harry stepped up beside her, and he took her hand lightly. She smiled at him, and his heart fluttered nervously.

"Just like you." Harry didn't know what made him say it, he just had.

"Thank you." She looked back at the sunset, the last rays of the sun's light falling on her face, outlining it with gold, her silver hair reflecting with purple light.

How long they stood there, Harry didn't know. The stars twinkled above them, and Harry began to see all the constellations outlined in the heavens. Eventually, they had to head in, but Harry would always remember that night.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

"And Harry Potter is the second into the maze!" Bagman's booming voice rang over the entrance to the maze, where Harry was running in, and carried over the audience. Harry ran on, turning on his mage vision, hoping to get an advantage that way. However, the hedges were thick enough that Harry couldn't see through them, so he turned it off. He used the point-me spell to try and narrow down where the cup was, but his wand just spun around in his hand aimlessly. They'd disabled that route of finding the cup.

"Point-Me Tri-Wizard Cup stand!" This time, it worked. Smiling, Harry took off in the direction of where his wand was pointing. Then, in front of him stood Fleur, bloodied and beaten, her eyes blank and lifeless. Harry flinched away, changing directions.

He came to a crossroads, and used the four-point spell again, and he took the left turn. He followed the twisting and turning hedges for about fifteen minutes, then checked the four-point spell again. He swore. He'd passed it earlier. Turning around, he headed back to the intersection and turned left again. This time, he found the path curving to what he wanted. He ran along until he came across a sphinx.

"in order to pass, you will have to answer a riddle. If you turn back, nothing will happen, but if you fail to answer correctly, then you will pay the price." Harry, not wanting to waste any time, told the sphinx, "No thank you. I would probably get it wrong."

The sphinx just nodded, and Harry turned back, taking the long way again. Ten minutes of wandering around later, he found an acromantula, which he killed with a blast of high pressured water. Passing it, he found the Tri-Wizard Cup standing right in front of him. Harry grabbed onto the handle, but when he did, it glowed red, and Harry threw it back, erecting a powerful shield charm. He barely raised it in time. One piece of shrapnel struck him in the left calf, and he fell to one knee.

Ignoring the pain, Harry stood up and turned around again. The cup wasn't likely to be anywhere near this illusion. Harry suspected that Dumbledore had put up this particular trap just for him. Deciding not to fall into that trap again, he turned his mage vision back on, and cast the four-point spell. Harry swore. His initial guess had been wrong. The Cup was back near the fake.

Sighing, Harry jogged past the ruined trap and continued onward, dodging some creature that blew fire at him. Soon, he came upon the Tri-Wizard cup, sitting on the stand that Harry had been tracking. Harry wasn't alone, however. Another, larger acromantula was chasing Fleur away from the cup. Harry cast the same water spell that had killed the other one, but it didn't pierce through its tough hide. Instead, it only angered it further, and it turned around, facing down Harry.

Harry gulped and cast a few fire spells at the acromantula, and it caught on fire. However, realizing that Harry was the greater threat, it spat out thread from its mouth, which caught Harry within its sticky domain. Harry struggled, trying in vain to escape from the acromantula silk.

Luckily, Fleur was there to help him, and she brought it down with a overpowered stunning spell. "Thanks," said Harry gratefully.

"It was no problem." Her voice was a little on edge.

Harry cut off the acromantula silk with several cutting charms and brushed off the material with his hands. "So," said Fleur, "are we going to fight for the cup?"

Harry looked up, and realized that she was serious. "How about we tie?"

Fleur thought about it for a moment, and shrugged. "Why not."

"Great." The two of them walked over to the cup, and they each readied their hand. Together, they grasped the handle of the Tri-Wizard Cup. The familiar gut-renching sensation took over, swirling them around and around, until they reached their destination.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Oliver grinned when he heard the portkey arrive. It was showtime. Soon, he'd have the entire Wizarding World under his rule. Only a few more minutes until Voldemort had truly risen again, and he almost couldn't wait to get started. While losing Lucius so early was disappointing, he was about to take back some of his followers, and train them up until no one could resist them, not even Harry Potter. Fortunately, the goblins understood Lucius's actions to be of his own accord, and his views were not representative of the rest of the Wizarding World. He wanted the goblins as allies, not enemies. Perhaps at a later date, he could try and recruit some to his side.

He'd have to make sure that his agent at Hogwarts was still undetected, as he didn't think Severus was still on their side, but he wasn't sure yet. Unfortunately, he would lose his agent there after the year was done, but perhaps Barty could suggest another to replace him. He'd have to thank Barty for his loyalty after this was done, but only in the right way.

Oliver activated his portkey, disappearing from Little Hangleton with the familiar flash of blue light.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

Harry and Fleur fell to the ground, the portkey expelling them somewhere that Harry didn't recognize. Harry stood, extending his hand to help Fleur up, which she took grudgingly. Looking about, Harry could see that they were in a graveyard, where a cauldron stood boiling. "This doesn't look like the stage," commented Harry.

"Non. It does not," agreed Fleur. "Is zis a second part to ze task?"

"I don't think so," said Harry. "There's something off about this, and I don't know what it is yet." Harry activated his mage sight, but he didn't see anything out of the ordinary, other than the cauldron, steam roiling off the potion grimly. He looked back at Fleur, and a burning pain erupted in his left heel. He fell to the ground, screaming. Fleur looked back at him sharply, and he saw her concerned expression as she shook him.

_"Avada Kedavra!"_ The dreaded words came from the left, and green light filled Harry's vision.

"No!"

* * *

**A/N: Aren't I evil? What would be even eviler would be if I went on hiatus for a month, not letting you know what happens next. Don't worry, that doesn't happen...yet.**

**You heard me...I will not be posting any chapters during the month of November, due to me wanting to focus on writing some other things, like an original novel, though I might work on this for a bit. Just to clarify—there will be one more chapter, Chapter 17, and then, on the 1st of December, I'll post Chapter 18. I'm giving you a heads up here, and I'll be reminding you next week.**

**Speaking of, see you then.**


	17. Inimici Anastasis

**Chapter 17: Inimici Anastasis**

"No!" The bolt of green light struck Fleur in the chest, and Harry watched in horror as the sparkle left her eye. Ignoring the searing pain in his heel, he knelt beside Fleur, shaking her, trying to wake her up. It was no use. Her eyes just stared back blankly.

"Petrifucs Totalus!" came the same voice. Harry felt his hands and legs snap together, rigid as a board. He struggled against the spell, but he couldn't move whatsoever.

Harry's vision swam as the voice drew closer. "Harry Potter, what pleasure," it said coldly. Harry was stood up against one of the headstones, still under the body-binding jinx. There were two figures he couldn't make out in his vision, and one of them approached Harry with something in his hand. Harry tried to scream when the knife dug into his arm, but no sound came out, blocked by the jinx.

Sounds of someone else screaming in the background drifted across Harry's hearing. He was getting dizzier and dizzier, and the pain in his heel was crawling up his leg, his right arm wet with blood. Then he heard Daphne calling.

_"Harry! HARRY!"_

_"What...?"_ said Harry weakly.

_"You have to get a grip on yourself. You've been poisoned and you are bound up with a body-bind. Figure a way out of this."_

Harry groaned, and a thought came to his confuddled brain. He concentrated on entering his core. His normally bright emerald green sphere was now sickly and fraying apart. He saw a yellow sphere enveloping his own core, and he removed it carefully. He looked for where his core was breaking apart the most, and pulled it back together. As he did this, he noticed what was attacking him. A violently violet snake head was eating away at his core. Harry expunged the snake, destroying it with his own magic.

He started to feel better, and emerged from his core. The body-bind had worn off, and the poison seeping through his veins was pouring out onto the ground near his foot. Harry lay there a moment, getting his bearings back. He was in a graveyard, somewhere he didn't recognize, and Fleur was sprawled on the ground, dead. He choked up when he saw he body just lying there, but he focused his attention elsewhere.

The two figures had become three, and Harry could only make out their outlines. Two of the figures approached, while the other disapparated. As the two came into view, Harry activated his mage vision hoping to get a clue of just who there people were. He recognized one immediately. Voldemort. The other he assumed was just a Death Eater.

"Harry Potter, we meet again." Voldemort was robed in a simple black cloak, and he held his wand out at Harry. Harry didn't let on that he had undone the body-bind, and stayed still.

"Ah, that's right. You can't talk. But I suppose I must thank you, Harry Potter. You see, if you had not exposed me back at Hogwarts, when I was possessing that fool Quirrel, I wouldn't be here now. You see, I was helped by someone at the Ministry, and thanks to them, I have now regained my body.

"My spy at Hogwarts moved the portkey point from the stage to here, and Nagini here disabled you while Macnair here got rid of the veela. Then Macnair assisted me in a ritual that brought me back, and here I am. Before I kill you, however, I wish to duel you. You've been taught to duel, right? Macnair, cast the-"

Harry burst into action. His wand whipped out from where he had surreptitiously moved his hand earlier, and cast a single blasting curse that caught Macnair in the forehead, exploding brains and skull fragments everywhere. Voldemort reacted instantly, casting a powerful shield charm, but Harry cast four more blasting hexes that curved around Voldemort and almost struck him in the back, Voldemort putting up another shield, blocking the blasting hexes with little effort.

But Harry was just getting started. Channeling his anger at Fleur's death, he cast again and again, blasting hex after blasting hex, wrapping them around Voldemort's bubble-like shield he erected after figuring out that Harry could manipulate the direction of his spells.

However, being weak from the poison, Harry could only cast for so long, and soon Voldemort began retaliating with his own blasting hexes. Seeing that he was losing ground, Harry cast a water spell, splashing Voldemort with boiling hot water. Voldemort bit his tongue, but didn't cry out, instead casting a fire spell. Harry poured cold water from his wand, but the fire from Voldemort's wand was too powerful; Harry couldn't put it out.

Grunting in frustration, Harry knew he couldn't last much longer, so he devised an escape plan. Putting up a powerful shield of his own, he levitated Fleur's body over by the Tri-Wizard Cup, which was still a portkey—he saw that the enchantment hadn't ended yet with his mage vision. He let his shield fall and ran towards the cup, grabbing Fleur with one hand and and grasping the handle in the other.

Harry had never been so grateful for the feel of the portkey yanking at his navel.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

There was a loud cheering when Harry appeared on the stage, holding the cup in one hand and Fleur in the other. It was only when the crowd noticed that Harry was crying, and that Fleur wasn't moving, before it started to understand that something was wrong. People scrambled around Harry, trying to see what was wrong. Harry was clutching Fleur for all he worth. It wasn't until Dumbledore put a hand onto his shoulder that Harry even looked up.

His face was lined with tear streaks, and his eyes were searching for something. "Harry," said Dumbledore gently, "you need to let go."

Reluctantly, Harry sat back, letting go of Fleur. Harry closed his eyes, letting the sounds of the panicked crowd wash over him. Dumbledore helped Harry to his feet, half carrying, half dragging him off the stage. When Dumbledore let Harry go, he collapsed into the chair that Dumbledore hurriedly conjured to prevent him from hitting the floor. "Harry," said Dumbledore, "I know it hurts. It always does, but you need to stay together. Tell me, what happened?"

Harry didn't answer. He had fallen asleep.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

"Minister, you can't seriously believe that he hasn't returned!" shouted Harry.

"Well, there's no evidence-" began Fudge, but he was cut off.

"Minister, you need look no further than Fleur's death. How was she killed? With the Killing Curse! Who might use the Killing Curse? Why, Voldemort, perhaps?" The Minister winced at Voldemort's name, but Harry didn't stop there. "Think about it. All you have to do is investigate this further. If I'm right, then you might be able to stop another war. You could be hailed as one of the greatest Ministers ever. If it's something else, you might be able to pinch the makings of the next Dark Lord in the bud. Either way, you win."

"Well, it might deserve a little bit more investigation," admitted Fudge.

"And it would give you a good image on the international front. I mean, one of the Ministorial's cabinet member's daughter is killed, and you immediately start investigations. You could even ask for some help from the French."

"All right all right!" agreed the Minister. "I'll call up Amelia when I get back to my office. Oh, and here's your prize money." Fudge pulled out a bag of gold from his pocket, and handed it to Harry.

"Thank you, Minister." Fudge turned to leave, but then Harry remembered something Voldemort had said. "Wait!"

"What is it?" asked Fudge.

"I just remembered something I heard Voldemort say. He said that he had an agent in the Ministry. You might want to take a look into that." Fudge winced again when Harry said Voldemort, and this time, Harry decided to tell the minister off. "Minister, I know it might scare people, but you should really use his name. Fear of a name increases fear of the thing."

"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was-" started Fudge.

Harry cut him off again. "Just try saying his name once. I dare you."

Fudge straightened, and with a shaky voice, said, "V-Voldemort."

"There," said Harry, "that wasn't so bad, now, was it?"

Fudge turned away without answering, and left.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

"Harry, have you seen Parvati anywhere? I've been looking for her for almost an hour now," said Padma.

"I haven't, sorry," Harry said without looking up from his book. Ever since Fleur had died, he had poured himself into more reading, researching more spells. What he had learned wasn't able to save Fleur, and he had to be able to defeat Voldemort next time, without anyone dying.

"I guess I'll look elsewhere." Padma walked away. Harry kept reading his book on runic arrays. Runes were an interesting subject, and it mainly focused on ward building, though it did have its uses in reinforcing and enchanting objects. Harry was currently reading about runic arrays, which were the main structure behind certain rituals, and was an advanced topic not covered at Hogwarts. Harry was just turning the page when he heard someone clear their throat.

"Harry, have you seen Padma anywhere? I've been looking for her for almost an hour now," said Parvati.

"She was just in here a minute ago, looking for you," answered Harry. "I might try the sixth floor."

"Thanks." Harry returned to his reading as Parvati walked away. He thought a moment about his friends at Hogwarts. He wouldn't let them down.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

"You wanted to see me, Professor?" asked Harry.

"Yes. It's about something that happened about fifteen years ago, now. Sit down. It's not something to take lightly." Harry sat, and Dumbledore looked him in the eye gravely. It starts when I am looking for a replacement Divination teacher, as the previous one was retiring. Now, I didn't like the subject that much—it was far too wooly for me to really dive into—but out of respect for the subject, I at least tried to find a replacement.

"I then held an interview with one Sybil Trelawney, great-granddaughter of the celebrated seer, Cassandra Trelawney. She wasn't very impressive, and after the interview was finished, I was about to leave when she started to speak in a different voice."

"She gave a prophecy?" asked Harry.

"Quite astute. Yes, she did give a prophecy."

"But what does this have to do with me?"

"Did you ever wonder why Voldemort attacked your parents that Halloween night, almost fourteen years ago?"

"You mean I was mentioned in the prophecy?"

"Yes. The prophecy went like this: _The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches, born to those thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies. The Dark Lord shall mark him as his equal, and he shall have the power the Dark Lord knows not. Neither can live while the other survives. The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches, born as the seventh month dies…_"

Harry thought over it for a moment. "My parents defied Voldemort three times?"

"They fought against him on three different occasions, and each time, they escaped, either due to luck or reinforcements. When I heard that prophecy, I was prepared to dismiss it, and most prophecies go unfulfilled, unless they are acted upon. However, someone was listening in, and heard the first two lines of the prophecy."

"A Death Eater," guessed Harry.

"Precisely. The Death Eater immediately returned to Voldemort, where he delivered the lines he had heard. I meanwhile, knew I had to be on the lookout for the boy of the prophecy, in order to protect him. To my surprise, within a year, two boys were born within those requirements. One was yourself, and the other was a boy named Neville Longbottom."

"So you sent them into hiding?"

"As soon as I could, I divulged the contents of the prophecy to your parents. They went into hiding, initially using Sirius Black as the secret keeper. However, in October of 1981, they switched secret keepers, giving that honor to Peter Pettigrew, one of your father's other friends."

"But he betrayed them."

"He did, and framed Sirius while he was at it. Voldemort was reduced to a wraith, but his followers were still around, as I'm sure you know."

"What happened next?"

"I placed you with the Dursleys, hoping that you could have a normal childhood there. Then the Longbottoms were attacked the day after they emerged from hiding. They were placed under the Cruciatus Curse for several hours, as the Death Eaters attacking them were trying to locate Voldemort. Luckily, aurors were able to capture the Death Eaters when Frank didn't report in for his shift. However, due to how long they were under the Cruciatus, their minds fractured, and they are in St. Mungos to this day in the long term spell damage ward."

"Then, just a few weeks before you ran away, Neville died mysteriously."

"He died?" Harry's blood ran cold. That meant that either the Neville he had met inside Tom's soul was an impostor, or he was the real deal, and something had happened to Neville, not unlike what had happened to Hermione, Ophelia, and Susan. But they way Neville's soul was already integrated into Tom's soul was suspicious as the time frame was much too short to allow for his soul to integrate with Tom's.

"No one could explain it. The cause of death was magical exhaustion, but there was nothing to show that might have caused it."

"That's weird."

"It was very strange. But I believe we are getting off topic."

"So it's me or him, in the end, then."

"Yes. You can see why I'm telling you now."

"So I'm prepared for it."

"Exactly. Now, when your friend Tom brought up the word horcrux, I looked into it, and my investigations brought up some interesting revelations. First, that there is a solid reason why Voldemort didn't die the night the Killing Curse was reflected back at him."

"What are horcruxes, anyway?"

"They are soul anchors. You tear off a piece of your soul, and you hide it in an object, and it prevents you from passing on."

"And he made more than one of these?"

"As far as I know, he made six."

"So we just have to track each of them down, destroy them, and then he dies."

"Harry, I wish it were that simple, I really do. But horcruxes are vile things. To split the soul, you must commit a murder on an innocent person, and then initiate a ritual to place your soul into an object. Now, horcruxes could be anything, but I suspect that Voldemort didn't bother putting his soul into an old boot or a random galleon. No, he searched for rare objects, and used those for his horcruxes. I've been searching around a little for places he might hide them, as dark magic always leaves traces, but due to the tournament, I haven't been able to get out as often as I'd like."

"So you want me to search for them over the summer?"

"If you wouldn't mind. I will warn you not to go after the horcruxes on your own. Some of the traps can be quite nasty."

"I understand." Harry stood up. "Thanks for telling me all this, Professor. I will see you later."

"Owl me if you have any problems or find a horcrux."

"I will," Harry promised. With that, he left before he could reveal what he was feeling.

* * *

_Asyli Intimi Abdere_

* * *

_"I'm a bloody horcrux!" _shouted Harry angrily.

_"Harry-"_ started Daphne.

_"Does Dumbledore not know, or is he keeping it from me?"_

_"I don't know, Harry,"_ said Daphne. _"Why don't we talk about this a little, okay?"_

_"Fine."_

_"First, we know that Voldemort made horcruxes, and that Dumbledore suspects that there are six."_

Harry didn't reply, so Daphne continued. _"There's the prophecy, which states that it's got to be you or him, but it doesn't say who will pull out in the end."_

Again, Harry didn't say anything. Daphne sighed. _"Harry, we both know you are conflicted right now, but can you please talk about this with me? I guarantee that you'll feel a little bit better after this."_

_"Fine,__"_ said Harry. _"You can continue listing off whatever."_

_"The horcruxes are most likely in something valuable, like a famous artifact. Then we know that part of Voldemort's soul resided in here."_

_"Resided? Not, resides?"_

_"I'm not sure if he's still around. We may have driven him off last time."_

_"But did we destroy the part of his soul? Completely destroy it?"_

_"Well, I'm not sure on that."_

_"So basically we need to destroy Voldemort's six horcruxes plus whatever was in here, and then take him down,"_ Harry summed up.

_"Basically. There's also the matter of his Death Eaters and the mole in the Ministry. Any thoughts?"_

_"It's Oliver!" _exclaimed Harry. _"Oliver is the mole. His timing just seemed too perfect when the assassin broke in, and so Voldemort placed him in as his spy."_

_"And didn't Oliver appear after Quirrel was taken in by the Ministry? Whatever happened to him anyway?"_

_"I heard he just died in his cell. Maybe Voldemort was done possessing him, and when he left Quirrel, he died, and took over Oliver."_

_"We might be on to something, but we have to be careful,"_ warned Daphne. _"We don't want to get complacent."_

_"I don't think that'll happen. If I seem to be underestimating Voldemort or his Death Eaters, just remind me of Fleur."_

_"Can do, boss."_ Daphne winked at him, and Harry rolled his eyes.

_"So, do we tell Tom about this?" _asked Daphne.

_"No. Something about him seems a little off. Don't you think that his timing and placement is a little too perfect?"_

_"He didn't seem that off to me. And he told us about the horcruxes."_

_"But what if that was just a distraction?"_

_"Harry,"_ said Daphne,_ "you're reading too much into this again. So we don't tell him. Great, now let's go back home. I want to reread that book on Runic Arrays."_

* * *

**A/N: Well, sorry this got out a little later. I generally try to post it sometime in the afternoon (central time), but I was quite distracted today. I got another idea for a fic, and it's driving me bonkers. That's all I will say about it here, but you can expect to see it sometime in November.**

**Speaking of, remember that I will be ON HIATUS for the month of November. This is only temporary, as I want to not only take a break from this far a bit, but it will allow me to focus on some other stuff, and I might be able to post some of the other stuff I've been working on.**

**As always, reviews are welcome, and I'll see you in December! Happy Halloween!**


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